Platelet Transfusion System Trial Shows Favorable Results

Cerus Corporation in Concord, California says a multi-year trial of its INTERCEPT-treated platelet components conducted at the Red Cross Blood Center in Basel, Switzerland had a successful outcome. The INTERCEPT Blood System is a treatment designed to protect against transfusion-transmitted diseases.

The open label study — where patients and researchers know which drug is being administered — included platelet-deficient hematologic patients at the University Hospital Basel and measured both platelet count increments and transfusion related adverse events. The corrected count increment measures the increase in the patient’s platelet count following a platelet transfusion, adjusted for dose and patient blood volume. A control group of 72 patients provided data to compare with the data from 44 patients who were administered INTERCEPT platelets.

The results show the average one-hour corrected count increment for the INTERCEPT patients compared favorably to the control patients. The more favorable outcomes happened with the 19 patients who received only INTERCEPT platelets per protocol, as well as the 25 patients who received at least one transfusion of conventional platelets in addition to INTERCEPT platelets. INTERCEPT patients were transfused with conventional platelets if no INTERCEPT platelets were available at the time a transfusion was required.

The investigators also found no differences in serious adverse events related to bleeding, in the number of platelet transfusions or the interval between transfusions, nor were there any reports of bacteria in the blood related to platelet transfusion or other transfusion transmitted infection.

Cerus says the INTERCEPT system, now in clinical development, reduces the risk of transfusion-transmitted diseases by inactivating pathogens such as viruses, bacteria and parasites that may be present in donated blood. The INTERCEPT system for both platelets and plasma is available in Europe, Russia, and the Middle East, but is not yet approved for use in the United States.

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