HBOX Therapies and the EIC Accelerator: Breathing Without a Ventilator

HBOX Therapies, founded in Aachen in 2021 by Niklas Steuer, Peter Schlanstein and Matthias Menne, who met at the cardiovascular engineering department of RWTH Aachen University Hospital, is developing MiRA, a compact extracorporeal system that adds oxygen to and removes carbon dioxide from a patient's blood using a pressurised, or hyperbaric, artificial lung. The aim is to support patients with acute lung failure while they are awake, before they need intubation and mechanical ventilation. It was selected in the EIC Accelerator's June 2023 cut-off with blended finance and received an EU grant of €2.50 million for a €4.48 million project from May 2024 to August 2026, according to CORDIS.

The only public report, to June 2025, says HBOX engineered "a high-efficiency artificial lung", a compact control console and a single-use cartridge, tested them in the laboratory against ISO standards, ran usability studies with intensive care staff and completed "a pilot production run using injection-molded components", according to the CORDIS reporting page. It says these results "form a solid basis for preclinical validation and preparation for First-in-Human studies". The project has ended; no preclinical results, trial registration or final report are public.

Where HBOX Therapies Stands Now

HBOX's website describes MiRA as "expected to be a novel extracorporeal treatment option" and says it is "planned for use in intensive care units", according to HBOX Therapies. The German register shows four patent filings between 2022 and 2025, a €130,918 DATIpilot grant in 2024 and state aid of €100,000 to €500,000 in 2025, and no change to its share capital since February 2023, according to North Data. When it won the EIC award, it said it would receive the grant and "a potential follow-on investment", according to StartingUp. No investment has been announced.

The Technology: An Artificial Lung Under Pressure

Patients whose lungs fail are usually intubated and sedated, which can injure the lungs further and cause infections and lasting weakness; the company cites a mortality rate above 35% for invasive ventilation. Existing extracorporeal systems are designed mainly for sedated, intubated patients, the report says. HBOX's device raises gas pressure to transfer more oxygen through a smaller membrane, which it says reduces the foreign surface in contact with blood, and uses a pump designed for moderate flow to limit blood damage.

What the EIC Award Promised, and What the Record Shows

The award funded the move from a laboratory proof of concept to a clinically usable device. By mid-2025 HBOX had built and tested the system and made a pilot batch. The next steps it named, preclinical validation and preparation for human studies, have produced no public results, and the project ended in August 2026 without a trial being registered.

1. Integrated systemDeliveredLung, console, cartridge.
2. Pilot productionDeliveredInjection-moulded parts.
3. Preclinical validationUnverifiedNo results public.
4. First-in-human studyNot announcedNo registration.

The Money

The EU grant covered 56% of the project. HBOX's recorded funding is almost entirely public: the EIC grant, an EXIST research transfer grant of €179,978 in 2022, the DATIpilot grant and state aid. No change to its share capital has been registered since February 2023, and whether the EIC Fund invested under the blended award has not been announced. Its accounts contain no public figures.

What Cannot Be Checked

Why Europe Should Care

Acute respiratory failure is "the most common, life-threatening condition in critically ill patients", according to a 2020 editorial HBOX cites. A device that keeps patients off ventilators could save lives and ICU capacity. HBOX comes out of RWTH Aachen's artificial lung research; the EIC has funded the engineering, but the device has not yet reached a patient.

The Verdict

HBOX Therapies and the EIC have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records and published statements, linked throughout.