CONCORD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) announced today that AABB has granted
the first requests of U.S. blood centers and hospitals to use INTERCEPT
pathogen reduction in place of irradiation to satisfy AABB's requirement
to reduce the risk of transfusion-associated graft versus host disease
(TA-GVHD).
Further, in letters received by Blood Bank of Delmarva, SunCoast Blood
Bank, the National Institutes of Health and Community Blood Center, the
AABB's Blood Bank and Transfusion Services Standards Program Unit (BBTS
SPU) stated that, "[b]ased on the evaluation of relevant data and
current use of the INTERCEPT Blood System for pathogen reduction, it is
the intent of the BBTS SPU to propose an interim standard to the 29th
edition allowing for the practice described." Issuance of the interim
standard would obviate the need for blood centers and hospitals to
request a variance to use the INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets in
place of irradiation.
TA-GVHD is a condition in which donor T-cells mount an immune response
against the transfusion recipient's lymphoid tissue. Immunocompromised
recipients such as oncology patients may be unable to combat the donor’s
T-cells, resulting in a potentially fatal disease. TA-GVHD has also been
observed in some patients who are not immunocompromised.
AABB's Blood Bank and Transfusion Service standards are followed by most
U.S. blood centers and major medical institutions, as well as a growing
number of international blood centers. The standards require that
patients identified as at risk for TA-GVHD must receive blood components
which have been irradiated to inactivate T-cells. Variances allowing for
the substitution of INTERCEPT in place of irradiation were approved
after submission of data dossiers containing efficacy, safety and
hemovigilance data for Standard Program Unit's review. Internationally,
the first variances for replacement of irradiation were issued in 2013
to AABB-accredited blood centers in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia upon
implementation of the INTERCEPT Blood System.
ABOUT CERUS
Cerus Corporation is a biomedical products company focused in the field
of blood transfusion safety. The INTERCEPT Blood System is designed to
reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted infections 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 of the INTERCEPT treatment is designed to inactivate established
transfusion threats, such as Hepatitis B and C, HIV, West Nile Virus and
bacteria, as well as emerging pathogens such as chikungunya, malaria and
dengue. Cerus currently markets and sells the INTERCEPT Blood System for
both platelets and plasma in the United States, Europe, the Commonwealth
of Independent States, the Middle East and selected countries in other
regions around the world. The INTERCEPT red blood cell system is in
clinical development. See www.cerus.com
for more information about Cerus.
INTERCEPT and INTERCEPT Blood System are trademarks of Cerus Corporation.
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Source: Cerus Corporation