Every minute one person in Europe dies from sepsis or septic shock. Sepsis arises when the body’s response to an infection injures its own tissues and organs. It may lead to shock, multi-organ failure, and death – especially if not recognised early and treated promptly. Sepsis is the final common pathway to death from most infectious diseases worldwide, including viral infections such as SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19.
In 2021, there were an estimated 166 million cases of sepsis worldwide, resulting in 21.4 million deaths — nearly one-third of all global deaths.
One company looking to address this challenge is Austria-based Efferon, which is developing technology designed to intervene in the inflammatory response that can make sepsis so difficult to treat.
Founded in 2016, its blood-purification devices work alongside existing treatments, removing bacterial toxins and excessive inflammatory molecules from the bloodstream to stabilise critically ill patients with sepsis and septic shock.
“We are selling time”
