CONCORD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Cerus Corporation (Nasdaq: CERS) announced today that Health Canada has
approved the commercialization of INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets.
The INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets is intended for the ex vivo
treatment and storage of platelet components. The system is used to
inactivate a broad range of pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, and
protozoan parasites, thus reducing the risk of transfusion-transmitted
infections (TTI). Contaminating donor leukocytes are also inactivated by
the INTERCEPT treatment, reducing the risk of transfusion-associated
graft versus host disease (TA-GVHD). Health Canada’s approval of
INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets is the Company’s second pathogen
inactivated system to be approved in Canada following the approval of
INTERCEPT Plasma in May 2016.
“The approval marks another important step in our mission to establish
INTERCEPT as the global standard of care for transfused blood
components,” said Carol Moore, senior vice president of regulatory
affairs and quality at Cerus. “INTERCEPT provides an important,
proactive safety measure to reduce the risk of transfusion transmitted
infections from known and emerging pathogens.”
“The approval provides blood centers the flexibility to pathogen
inactivate platelets derived from whole blood or apheresis collections,
and stored in either platelet additive solution or plasma. In addition,
Canadian blood centers will be able to create larger platelet pools from
whole blood collections and use our double dose INTERCEPT kits to yield
two therapeutic platelet doses to realize improved operational
efficiencies and economics,” continued Moore.
Approximately 150,000 units of platelets are shipped annually in Canada.
The Canadian Blood System is comprised primarily of two provincially
funded agencies, Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec. The
organizations were formed in 1998 as a result of the Krever Commission’s
recommendation to create a new national blood authority. Canadian Blood
Services operates in nine provinces and all three territories, schedules
more than 18,000 collection events annually through permanent and mobile
collection sites, and operates two blood testing facilities and nine
manufacturing sites. Héma-Québec operates in Quebec with two blood
collection sites.
The expert panel at the 2007 Canadian Consensus Conference on Pathogen
Inactivation of blood components recommended universal implementation of
pathogen inactivation upon the technology’s availability.
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 the INTERCEPT Blood System are trademarks of Cerus
Corporation.
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Cerus Corporation
Tim Lee, 925-288-6137
Investor Relations
Director
Source: Cerus Corporation