Cerus Corp. Announces the Inclusion of Pathogen Reduction Technology in the ISBT Working Party Recommendations for the Prepar...
02 April 2020 - 11:30PM
Business Wire
Cerus Corporation (Nasdaq: CERS) announced today that the
International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) Working Party on
Global Blood Safety issued a new document titled “Points to
consider in the preparation and transfusion of COVID-19
convalescent plasma.” The document was authored by Dr. Jay Epstein
and Dr. Thierry Burnouf, two key opinion leaders in the field of
transfusion medicine.
“Convalescent plasma has emerged as a promising potential
therapeutic to treat acutely ill COVID-19 patients,” said Dr.
Laurence Corash, Cerus’ chief scientific officer. “These just
issued recommendations by the ISBT Working Party on Global Blood
Safety provide a framework for institutions involved in collecting,
manufacturing, and transfusing COVID-19 convalescent plasma. We
applaud the issuance of these recommendations which should help
assist blood centers and hospitals in delivering this new treatment
to patients and the inclusion of pathogen reduction as an important
step in ensuring the safety and availability of this important
therapy for patients.”
The document indicates that following the donation of the
convalescent plasma, the use of a licensed pathogen inactivation
technology is “highly desirable” to reduce the risk of transfusion
transmitted infections and alleviate concerns about “possible
superinfections with SARS-CoV-2”. Importantly, with the use of
INTERCEPT, blood centers and hospitals may have the ability to
access convalescent donors earlier post the resolution of their
disease, which could increase the overall availability of donor
convalescent plasma during the coming weeks.
“Given ISBT’s recommendation to transfuse convalescent plasma
from at least two donors, to potentially achieve a more effective
immune protection due to the diversity of antibodies, we believe
pathogen reduction can play an important role in minimizing the
risk of transfusion transmitted infections,” continued Dr.
Corash.
The complete document can be referenced on the ISBT website at
the following URL.
http://isbtweb.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Points_to_consider_in_the_preparation_of_COVID_convalescent_plasma_-_200331_ISBT_WP_GBS_Final.pdf
ABOUT CONVALESCENT PLASMA:
Passive immunity has been demonstrated effective for treatment
of infections caused by cytomegalovirus (CMV), hepatitis B virus,
rabies, tetanus, varicella, prior SARS viruses, Argentine
Hemorrhagic Fever, and various other illnesses. Convalescent plasma
has been cited as a potential therapy for viral infection dating
back to the 1918 Spanish influenza A (H1N1) pandemic. Since that
time, convalescent plasma as passive immune therapy has been
evaluated in the treatment of: Ebola, SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV),
2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1), Argentine Hemorrhagic Fever, CMV,
Parvovirus B19, and others. Two preliminary clinical series from
China reported that transfusion of COVID-19 convalescent plasma
resulted in improved clinical status for patients requiring
mechanical ventilation (Shen, Wang et al. 2020) and significant
improvement in clinical symptoms, blood oxygen saturation, and
clearance of SARS-CoV-2 virus (Duan, Liu et al. 2020). The
transfusions were well tolerated in both studies. Use of
convalescent plasma is supported by a February 2020 WHO report
which states “The cellular infectivity of the isolated viruses
could be completely neutralized by the sera collected from
convalescent patients.” [Source:
https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/who-china-joint-mission-on-covid-19-final-report.pdf
]
ABOUT CERUS
Cerus Corporation is dedicated solely to safeguarding the
world’s blood supply and aims to become the preeminent global blood
products company. Based in Concord, California, our employees are
dedicated to deploying and supplying vital technologies and
pathogen-protected blood components for blood centers, hospitals
and ultimately patients who rely on safe blood. With the INTERCEPT
Blood System, we are focused on protecting patients by delivering
the full complement of reliable products and expertise for
transfusion medicine. Cerus develops and markets the INTERCEPT
Blood System, and remains the only company in the blood transfusion
space to earn both CE Mark and FDA approval for pathogen reduction
of both platelet and plasma components. Cerus currently markets and
sells the INTERCEPT Blood System 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. For more information
about Cerus visit www.cerus.com, and follow us on LinkedIn.
INTERCEPT and the INTERCEPT Blood System are trademarks of Cerus
Corporation.
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Tim Lee – Investor Relations Director Cerus Corporation
925-288-6137
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