Extensive Multi-Year Safety Experience Reported
CONCORD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) announced today that investigators from
blood centers in Sweden, Belgium, France and Slovenia will present their
experience with the INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets and plasma
during a leading international transfusion safety meeting, the XIIth
International Haemovigilance Seminar taking place in Dubrovnik, Croatia
from February 17 to 19.
Dr. Folke Knutson of the University Hospital in Uppsala, Sweden, will
present one year's experience with universal adoption of the INTERCEPT
platelet components in which he observed a 66 percent reduction in
adverse transfusion reactions for all patients, and no reported
reactions among pediatric patients. "INTERCEPT platelets demonstrate
comparable therapeutic efficacy to conventional platelet components with
no increase in platelet usage," noted Dr. Knutson.
Dr. Jean Claude Osselaer of the Mont Godinne Blood Transfusion Center,
Yvoir, Belgium will report on the transfusion experience with 18,641
INTERCEPT platelet components transfused in a 21-center European
haemovigilance study confirming the safety profile of platelets treated
with the INTERCEPT platelet system.
The French national transfusion service of Alsace (EFS-Alsace,
Strasbourg, France) will present on its experience with transfusion of
42,806 INTERCEPT platelet components over a three year period
demonstrating significant reduction in acute transfusion reactions
compared to conventional platelet components. In addition, EFS Alsace
will present data on transfusion of 26,234 INTERCEPT plasma components
showing a safety profile comparable to that of conventional plasma.
"These are reports by multiple independent European blood centers using
the INTERCEPT pathogen inactivation technology in routine practice for a
broad spectrum of patients, and their experience serves to confirm and
extend the safety profile for these products," said Dr. Laurence Corash,
Cerus' chief medical officer.
ABOUT CERUS
Cerus Corporation is a biomedical products company focused on
commercializing the INTERCEPT Blood System to enhance blood safety. The
INTERCEPT system is designed to reduce the risk of
transfusion-transmitted diseases by inactivating a broad range of
pathogens such as viruses, bacteria and parasites that may be present in
donated blood. The nucleic acid targeting mechanism of action allows
INTERCEPT treatment to inactivate both established transfusion threats,
such as hepatitis, HIV, West Nile virus and bacteria, as well as
emerging pathogens such as influenza, malaria and dengue. Cerus
currently markets and sells the INTERCEPT Blood System for both
platelets and plasma in Europe, Russia, the Middle East and selected
countries in other regions around the world. The INTERCEPT red blood
cell system is in clinical development. See http://www.cerus.com
for more information.
INTERCEPT and INTERCEPT Blood System are trademarks of Cerus Corporation.
Source: Cerus Corporation