Blood System for Platelets Found Effective and Safe

A study has confirmed the efficacy and safety of the Intercept blood system for platelets, a new safety technology designed to protect patients by reducing the risk of transfusion-transmitted diseases such as HIV and hepatitis. Study data were reported in the March 15, 2003, issue of Blood.

The study of 103 thrombocytopenic patients was designed to determine whether platelets treated with the Intercept blood system provided platelet transfusion support in preventing or stopping bleeding consistent with conventional medical practice. This included monitoring patients for bleeding and several secondary endpoints, including acute transfusion reactions as well as adverse events. The results showed that platelets treated with the new safety technology delivered comparable therapeutic benefits with no associated increase in patient adverse reactions.

The Intercept system is the only pathogen inactivation system for platelets approved and available for use in Europe. The system uses a light-activated nucleic acid-targeting compound that inactivates pathogens containing DNA and RNA, such as HIV and hepatitis B and C viruses, and prevents them from replicating. The Intercept blood system for platelets is based on the Helinx technology of Cerus Corp. (Concord, CA, USA) and was jointly developed by Cerus and subsidiaries of Baxter International (Deerfield, IL, USA).

"This is a significant advancement in the safety for patients undergoing chemotherapy, heart bypass surgery, and other procedures that require platelet transfusions,” said Professor Dick van Rhenen, lead investigator of the study and director of Sanquin Blood Bank South West Region (Rotterdam, The Netherlands).





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