HemaCare Corp. has moved into a new headquarters to give it space to expand its technical capabilities in providing blood products to the cell therapy, biomedical research and drug discovery industries. The company traded in its 16,500-square-foot facility on Sherman Way near Sepulveda Boulevard in Van Nuys for more than double that space at the Mix at Harman campus in Northridge. Key to the new space will be the four clean rooms that are designed for manufacturing practice regulations set by the Food and Drug Administration that will allow the blood products developed in them to be used on humans. Currently, the company’s blood products are used for research purposes. HemaCare was founded in 1978 as a blood bank and in 2011 transitioned its focus to bioresearch and cell therapy services. On the Business Journal’s annual list of Most Profitable Public Companies published in the July 23 issue, HemaCare ranked No. 1 with a three-year return on equity of 48.2 percent. Shares closed Dec. 4 at $10.36. A HemaCare representative declined to comment for this article. Kyle Bauser, an analyst with Dougherty & Co. in Minneapolis, said in a research note last month that HemaCare is entering a transition year as it ramps up to meet demand. “The new facility will be about scalability and will require more compliance, additional people, new workflows and new technologies. As such, we expect expenses to pick up considerably,” Bauser wrote in the note. The global cell therapy and tissue engineering market was $12.7 billion last year and is projected to grow at an annual average rate of 26 percent to reach a value of nearly $172 billion by 2028, according to Smithers Apex, a British-based strategic consultancy. Despite HemaCare trading on the over-the-counter market, Bauser believes that the company is poised for strong growth, with sales projected at 31 percent a year for the next three years. Immunotherapy using CAR T-cells is an emerging therapy that can drive HemaCare’s growth, he said in the research note. “(HemaCare) is in the right place at the right time – CAR-T trials are underway in earnest and HEMA is the most reliable and experienced provider of fresh, human derived starting material,” the note added. HemaCare reports its financials every six months. For the period ending June 30, the company reported net income of $2.1 million on revenue of $13.1 million.