Who We Are
Horseshoe Crab Blood for Medical Testing
North American Limulus Polyphemus Species Blood
Exo-Biotechnologies is group of biologists, scientists, physicians and commercial fisherman/crabbers united as a scientific focused Horseshoe crab collective (with over 72 years of combined expertise). Our goal is to be a responsible global supplier of Horseshoe crab blood of the Limulus Polyphemus and Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) while helping improve the lives of humankind. We supply Horseshoe crab blood and manufacture LAL reagents to the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.
Our collective is committed to the protection of the Limulus while also satisfying the ever-growing demand for quality-controlled products and reagents that insure drug purity that is vital to us all.
Our collective is committed to the protection of the Limulus while also satisfying the ever-growing demand for quality-controlled products and reagents that insure drug purity that is vital to us all.
Our Process
We Harvest from the World's Best Atlantic Horseshoe Crabs
Our Horseshoe crab blood is humanely extracted from the crabs, the LAL is purified from the blood, and the LAL is processed into endotoxin and β-glucan tests. Only a responsible, safe amount of Horseshoe crab blood is taken in order to preserve this precious resource for future generations that humankind relies on. Crabs are released back into their natural environment the same day.
Benefits of Horseshoe Crab Blood
The Horseshoe Crab and the Health of Humankind
If you've ever had to use contact lens solution, get immunization shots or common flu shots, their purity and your safety are ensured by the Limulus Polymephus Horseshoe crab. Vaccines, injectable drugs, intravenous solutions, and implantable medical devices, have to be quality checked utilizing LAL extracted from the blood of a Horseshoe crab.
How Does Horseshoe Crab Blood Help the Purity of Medicine?
People may become seriously ill if drugs aren't purified of bacterial endotoxin or fungus (Beta 1~ 3 Glucans). It is especially dangerous if bacteria and its poisonous secretions known as (endotoxins) enter the human blood stream directly, such as from an injectable drug. Given this, drugs and implantable medical devices that come in contact with our blood stream are vulnerable and drugs going into our bodies must be tested to assure they do not contain any impurities. People with weakened immune systems are especially at risk (think of people undergoing chemotherapy, AIDS, or a person with diabetes) and impure medicines can be deadly to these individuals.
The Horseshoe crab has an immune system that is elegantly simple at guarding itself from gram negative bacteria and its related poisons via bacteria secretion. Inside the Horseshoe crab’s circulatory (vascular) system, it contains only one cell and three blood proteins (that single cell in the blood is called the amebocyte). This cell contains proteins packed in tiny packets known a vesicles that are ready to be deployed if a foreign invader is found within the Horseshoe crab’s vascular (blood) stream. These proteins are released (degranulation) when the presence of foreign invaders like Gram negative bacteria are detected. This causes it’s blood to clot around the injury and bacteria, protecting the Horseshoe crab from infection.
The Horseshoe crab has an immune system that is elegantly simple at guarding itself from gram negative bacteria and its related poisons via bacteria secretion. Inside the Horseshoe crab’s circulatory (vascular) system, it contains only one cell and three blood proteins (that single cell in the blood is called the amebocyte). This cell contains proteins packed in tiny packets known a vesicles that are ready to be deployed if a foreign invader is found within the Horseshoe crab’s vascular (blood) stream. These proteins are released (degranulation) when the presence of foreign invaders like Gram negative bacteria are detected. This causes it’s blood to clot around the injury and bacteria, protecting the Horseshoe crab from infection.
Our Products
Horseshoe Crab Blood
Our Horseshoe crab blood is harvested from the North American Limulus Polyphemus species of Horseshoe crab in the United States.
▸ Responsibly harvested on-demand in climate-controlled environments and shipped to you under temperature-controlled conditions. Ready for cGMP production of LAL testing products and your personal research projects.
▸ Year round availability from sources up and down the eastern seaboard of the United States.
▸ Custom volumes of Horseshoe crab blood available for sale.
▸ Exo-Biotechnologies can support domestic or global needs utilizing logistics companies experienced in handling biologically sensitive products.
▸ Responsibly harvested on-demand in climate-controlled environments and shipped to you under temperature-controlled conditions. Ready for cGMP production of LAL testing products and your personal research projects.
▸ Year round availability from sources up and down the eastern seaboard of the United States.
▸ Custom volumes of Horseshoe crab blood available for sale.
▸ Exo-Biotechnologies can support domestic or global needs utilizing logistics companies experienced in handling biologically sensitive products.
Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL)
Exo-Biotechnologies' gel clot assay is a qualitative LAL test that detects a positive or negative presence of endotoxin from Gram-negative bacteria at differing sensitivity levels. It is the "gold-standard" compared to other methods that are available in the category. We do not offer assays of lower quality.
