Sepsis, a dangerous inflammatory response to infection, kills approximately 3 million children under five each year globally. Efferon, a startup recently recognized among TechCrunch Disrupt 2026’s Startup Battlefield 200, is working to dramatically reduce that toll with a medical device designed to filter deadly toxins from young patients’ blood.
When antibiotics fail to halt the immune system’s runaway reaction during sepsis, extracorporeal blood purification becomes necessary to remove harmful substances. Efferon’s technology targets both endotoxins and cytokines simultaneously. Co-founder and CEO Dima Romashin likens the process to a fire: endotoxins act as the flames, while cytokines are the smoke. He noted that unlike competing devices on the market, Efferon’s mechanism can absorb both elements at once.
While the company also produces absorbers for adults, its pediatric solution, Efferon NEO, has shown particular promise. Because children have a much lower blood volume than adults, the device was specifically engineered to match their physiology. In April, Efferon NEO was granted a CE mark, Europe’s regulatory approval equivalent to FDA clearance, establishing it as the first multimodal extracorporeal blood purification device built exclusively for pediatric sepsis.
The device is currently in use in intensive care units across 30 nations, including facilities in Europe, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand. The company is now preparing to submit an application for FDA approval and projects reaching $2 million in annualized revenue by the end of 2026.
The underlying technology originated at Moscow State University, where co-founder Ivan Bessonov and other scientists developed the initial work. Romashin, an experienced entrepreneur, joined as CEO earlier this year to drive commercialization. While acknowledging that Efferon does not grow as rapidly as typical AI startups, Romashin emphasizes that the true metric of success is saving children’s lives and getting them home.
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