Traditional treatment for Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE), such as therapeutic hypothermia, is limited. It must be administered within hours of birth and only benefits a subset of affected infants. For many families, the window of opportunity is tragically narrow, and the outcomes remain devastating. HAON Life Sciences aims to change that. With a scalable, cell-based therapy designed to reduce or reverse neurological damage caused by oxygen deprivation, even beyond the standard treatment window, HAON is pioneering a bold new frontier in neonatal brain injury care.
The Irish cell therapy biotech startup announced that the CanVas consortium has received a €10.7 million non-dilutive grant from the Disruptive Technology Innovation Fund (DTIF). This funding will accelerate the clinical development of CanVas-001, a novel therapy designed to treat early brain injuries, one of the most critical unmet needs in neonatal care.
The CanVas consortium brings together a multidisciplinary group of experts led by HAON Life Sciences. Partners include the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT), Hi-Tech Health, and University College Cork’s INFANT Research Centre. NIBRT will lead analytical development, Hi-Tech Health will manufacture the clinical product, and INFANT will provide deep clinical expertise in neonatal brain injuries, particularly Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE).
Tackles the toll of early brain injury
Its CanVas-001 is a cell-based therapeutic designed to treat HIE, a devastating condition that arises when a baby’s brain is deprived of oxygen and blood flow before or shortly after birth. HIE is a leading cause of infant death and long-term neurological impairment, contributing to nearly 20% of cerebral palsy cases. Current treatment options are limited, leaving families and clinicians with few effective solutions. HAON’s approach aims to fill this void by advancing regenerative medicine into the heart of perinatal care.
HAON Life Sciences is led by a founding team of scientists and biotech veterans, including Mark O’Neill FCA and Moayed Hamza in 2022. They have deep expertise in stem cell biology, translational medicine, and neurodevelopmental science. The leadership team combines decades of clinical and academic experience, driving a mission to develop first-in-class therapies for vulnerable populations underserved by conventional pharmaceutical approaches.
The concept behind HAON was born from a compelling intersection of basic stem cell science and clinical need. Researchers began to see consistent evidence that Endothelial Colony Forming Cells (ECFCs), a rare, highly regenerative cell type, could restore vascular and neurological function in models of brain injury. By combining ECFCs with Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (MSCs), HAON developed CanVas-001, a powerful cell therapy candidate that showed promising results in large animal preclinical models.
A new era in neonatal care
CanVas-001 is an allogeneic investigational product, meaning it is derived from donor cells and can be used across multiple patients. The therapy uses a dual-cell mechanism to repair both vascular damage and inflammation in the brain, two central contributors to long-term harm in HIE. It is among the first therapies globally aiming to bring regenerative medicine to the treatment of early brain injury.
With the €10.7 million DTIF grant, HAON Life Sciences and the CanVas consortium are well-positioned to move CanVas-001 into clinical trials — a major leap toward changing the future for infants with HIE. The broader CanVas platform also aims to develop therapies for adult neurodegenerative diseases, signaling long-term impact well beyond neonatal care.
As HAON advances CanVas-001 to the clinic, it is not only addressing a rare disease but reimagining the role of cell therapy in neuroprotection and opening the door to a new generation of regenerative treatments.
