HemoGenix® was founded in March 2000 by Ivan N. Rich, PhD, an internationally recognized researcher in the field of developmental, experimental and applied clinical hematology. HemoGenix® was formed as a Contract Research Service Laboratory for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry as the only company in the world primarily specializing in stem cell hemotoxicity testing. Initially, this was performed using techniques, such as the colony-forming assays. However, it was soon realized that these assays had many disadvantages (discussed elsewhere on this website) that made it a bad technique for the industry. With the help of a Phase I SBIR grant awarded from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in October 2001, HemoGenix® began developing, what is now the HALO® Platform, in January 2002. By March 2002, The HALO® Platform was launched as a contract service at the Society of Toxicology meeting in Nashville, TN. A Phase II SBIR grant from the NCI in Spring 2003 allowed HemoGenix® to begin the necessary validation of the HALO® Platform.
In September 2003, HemoGenix® relocated from Columbia, South Carolina to Colorado Springs, Colorado in order to expand the company, begin the HALO® validation procedure and initiate production of the HALO® Kit Platform.
The HALO® Research Kit Platform was launched at the American Society of Hematology in December 2003. At the Society of Toxicology meeting in 2004, the first HALO® Hemotoxicity Kits and the OxyFLOW™ Platform were introduced. In December 2004, at the American Society of Hematology, the HALO® Stem and Progenitor Cell - Quality Control (SPC-QC) Kits and the LUMENESC™ Kit Platform to detect Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSC) were introduced. In March 2005, the HALO® Predictive Hemotoxicity Platform was unveiled at the Society of Toxicology. Following this, HemoGenix®, launched the LumiSTEM™ Platform and introduced the concept of "In Vitro Cross-Platform Comparative Toxicity". This was based on the ability of both LUMENESC™ and LumiSTEM™ to utilize a 384-well plate format. What was missing was the 384-well plate format for the HALO® Platform. This was introduced as the HALO®-96 SEC and and HALO®-384 HT both of which allow fully automated and high-throughput capability to detect and measure the response of lympho-hematopoietic cells. Since relocating to Colorado Springs, HemoGenix®, Inc has increased its Assay Kit Catalog to over 1,000 different items. It produces and sells HALO®, LUMENESC™, LumiSTEM™ and OxyFLOW™ Kits all over the world to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions.
As of January 1, 2004, HemoGenix® converted from and LLC to an "S" Corporation.