败血症是由感染引发的急性炎症，是儿童死亡的主要原因之一，每年导致约300万五岁以下儿童死亡。
Sepsis, an acute inflammation triggered by infection, is a leading cause of childhood mortality, claiming roughly 3 million children under the age of five annually.
Efferon是一家被选为TechCrunch Disrupt 2026创业大赛200强的初创公司，其使命是大幅降低这一数字。
Efferon, a startup selected as one of TechCrunch Disrupt 2026’s Startup Battlefield 200, is on a mission to drastically lower that number.
该公司开发了一种医疗设备，声称该设备能够降低器官衰竭率，并显著加速儿童的康复。
The company has developed a medical device that it says lowers organ failure rates and significantly accelerates recovery in children.
当抗生素等标准治疗无法阻止免疫系统的过度反应时，患者的血液必须经过过滤以清除致命毒素。此时，Efferon的设备——一种能够吸附危险细胞因子和毒素的吸附器——就发挥了关键作用。
When standard treatments like antibiotics cannot stop the immune system’s overreaction, a patient’s blood must be filtered to remove deadly toxins. That is where Efferon’s devices, of absorbers of dangerous cytokines and toxins, step in to make a critical difference.
Efferon的联合创始人兼首席执行官Dima Romashin将败血症期间人体内发生的过程比作一场火灾，其中免疫反应会迅速压垮身体。“在一场火灾中，有两样东西：火焰本身以及它产生的烟雾，”他对TechCrunch表示。
Dima Romashin, Efferon’s co-founder and CEO, compares what happens in the body during sepsis to a fire, where an immune response overwhelms the body rapidly. “In a fire, there are two things: the flame itself and smoke that it produces,” he told TechCrunch.
在败血症中，内毒素相当于火焰，而细胞因子则相当于烟雾。根据Romashin的说法，Efferon不同于市场上的其他设备，它开发了一种能够同时吸附两者的机制。
In sepsis, endotoxins are the flames and cytokines are the smoke. Efferon, unlike other devices on the market, has developed a mechanism that can absorb both at once, according to Romashin.
尽管Efferon也生产用于成人的吸附器，但其专为儿童开发的儿科设备Efferon NEO正证明特别有效。Romashin表示，由于儿童的循环血量显著较低，他们需要专门根据自身生理特点设计的医疗设备。
Although Efferon makes absorbers for adults, Efferon NEO, its pediatric device developed specifically for young kids, is proving especially effective. Since children have a significantly lower circulating blood volume, they require medical devices engineered specifically for their physiology, according to Romashin.
2024年4月，Efferon NEO获得了CE标志——这是欧洲相当于FDA批准的认证——使其成为首款专门针对儿童败血症设计的多模式血液净化设备。
In April, Efferon NEO received a CE mark, Europe’s equivalent to FDA approval, making it the first multimodal blood purification device specifically engineered for pediatric sepsis.
Efferon NEO目前已在30多个国家的重症监护室中使用，包括欧洲医院、沙特阿拉伯和泰国。该公司目前正在准备申请FDA批准，并有望在2026年底实现年化收入达200万美元。
Efferon NEO is used in intensive care units across 30 countries, including European hospitals, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand. The company is now preparing to file for FDA approval and is on track to hit $2 million in annualized revenue by the end of 2026.
这家初创公司的技术最初是由莫斯科国立大学的科学家们开发的，其中包括联合创始人伊万·贝索诺夫。认识到其潜力后，连续创业者罗马申今年早些时候担任CEO，以帮助将其商业化。
The startup’s technology was originally developed by scientists at Moscow State University, including co-founder Ivan Bessonov. Recognizing its potential, Romashin, a serial entrepreneur, stepped in earlier this year as CEO to help commercialize it.
尽管罗马申承认Efferon的增长速度并未达到当今人工智能初创公司那样的爆炸式增长，但对公司而言，真正的成功衡量标准完全不同：每一个能够回家的孩子。
Although Romashin admits that Efferon isn’t growing at the breakneck pace of today’s AI startups, true success for the company is measured by something else entirely: every child who gets to go home.