CONCORD, Calif. & SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ: CERS), a biomedical products company focused
on improving blood transfusion safety, today announced that Banco de
Sangre de Servicios Mutuos in Puerto Rico has signed a purchase
agreement for the INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets and plasma to
help protect the local blood supply during the Zika outbreak.
“Puerto Rico relies heavily on our local volunteer donation network,
which provides the bulk of our blood supply. Utilizing INTERCEPT for
platelets and plasma will allow us to continue to do so, as well as
alleviate some of the cost burden and additional logistics associated
with purchasing blood components from the continental US due to the Zika
guidelines set forth by the FDA,” said Jose O. Alsina, vice president
and chief operating officer of Banco de Sangre de Servicios Mutuos,
Puerto Rico’s largest blood bank. “INTERCEPT is a critical technology to
secure the safety and availability of the Puerto Rican blood supply and
ensure safety for patients from transfusion related transmission of Zika
virus during this outbreak.”
“During past emerging virus outbreaks, we have been able to implement
INTERCEPT in a timely and cost effective manner,” said William “Obi”
Greenman Cerus’ president and chief executive officer. ”We will be
working closely with the team at Servicios Mutuos to ensure that they
can provide pathogen-reduced platelet and plasma units to their
hospitals in the weeks to come in order to comply with the Zika guidance
measures issued by the FDA and WHO.”
In February 2016, both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and
the World Health Organization (WHO) issued guidance documents that
acknowledged the risk of Zika virus transmission via blood transfusion
and identified appropriate blood safety measures to reduce transfusion
risks, including the use of pathogen reduction technology.
As outbreaks such as these demonstrate, pathogens continually emerge and
present an ongoing threat to public health. Testing for emerging
pathogens is inherently a reactive approach, requiring identification of
specific pathogens for which tests can then be developed and
implemented. There is typically a considerable lag between the emergence
of a new pathogen and the recognition that an additional safety
intervention may be needed. In contrast, pathogen reduction is a
proactive safety measure that can be implemented quickly to protect the
blood supply.
The INTERCEPT Blood System is based on the premise that platelets and
plasma contain no functional DNA or RNA. However, pathogens and harmful
white blood cells all do. Pathogen reduction is designed to block the
replication process so that harmful viruses, bacteria, and parasites can
no longer multiply and cause disease, independent of whether they have
been identified as specific blood supply risks.
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 http://www.cerus.com
for information about Cerus.
INTERCEPT and INTERCEPT Blood System are trademarks of Cerus Corporation.
About Banco de Sangre de Servicios Mutuos, Inc
Established since 1980, Banco de Sangre de Servicios Mutuos is dedicated
to providing blood and blood derivatives according to all Federal and
State regulations to the community in Puerto Rico. With a workforce of
approximately 200 professionals, Banco de Sangre de Servicios Mutuos
serves as a centralized transfusion service to the 10 major hospitals in
the San Juan Metropolitan area, as well as primary supplier to 30
hospitals islandwide. Banco de Sangre de Servicios Mutuos is committed
to providing the safest and purest products to the patients in the
community we serve.
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Source: Cerus Corporation