Cerus Corporation announced last week that OneBlood, Inc. has signed a multi-year purchase agreement for the INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets and plasma. The INTERCEPT System reduces the risk of transfusion-transmitted infection in platelet and plasma components by inactivating a broad spectrum of viruses, gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, spirochetes, parasites and leukocytes.
“Safety of the blood supply is OneBlood’s top priority,” said Don Doddridge, President and Chief Executive Officer of OneBlood. “The INTERCEPT pathogen reduction system provides an additional layer of safety to our existing testing processes and enables us to deploy cutting-edge pathogen reduction technology to further ensure safe blood for our hospital partners and their patients,” said Doddridge.
OneBlood distributes approximately one million blood products to more than 200 hospitals and healthcare facilities throughout most of Florida, parts of Southern Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina.
“In a time when new and emerging pathogens such as chikungunya and dengue fever are starting to appear in the United States, the INTERCEPT system enables OneBlood to take a proactive approach in supplying their hospitals with pathogen-reduced platelets and plasma,” said William “Obi” Greenman, Cerus’ President and Chief Executive Officer.
Related: Sarasota: First pathogen reduced platelet units produced at SunCoast Blood Bank
What is the INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets and plasma?
The system is comprised of single-use platelet and plasma processing sets and an ultraviolet (UVA) illumination device for the ex vivo preparation and storage of pathogen-reduced whole blood-derived or apheresis plasma and apheresis platelet components. Recognized as a safe, effective, and reliable choice of European blood centers for over a decade, Cerus’ INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets and plasma received FDA approval in December 2014.
The safety and efficacy of INTERCEPT processed platelets has been evaluated in 10 controlled clinical studies, with over 800 study subjects. Routine use of INTERCEPT processed platelets has been monitored in over 4000 patients in an active hemovigilance studies conducted by Cerus in Europe, and additionally through national hemovigilance reporting systems in France (since 2009) and Switzerland (since 2010). The safety and efficacy of plasma prepared with the INTERCEPT Blood System has been evaluated in six clinical studies including a total of over 500 patients. Routine use of INTERCEPT plasma has been monitored in over 50,000 INTERCEPT plasma components transfused to almost 10,000 patients in an active hemovigilance study conducted by Cerus in Europe, and additionally in over 150,000 INTERCEPT plasma components through France’s national hemovigilance reporting system in 2009 through 2011.
