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.

Cerus regulatory affairs and quality senior vice president Carol Moore said: “The approval marks another important step in our mission to establish INTERCEPT as the global standard of care for transfused blood components.

“INTERCEPT provides an important, proactive safety measure to reduce the risk of transfusion transmitted infections from known and emerging pathogens.”

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.

Cerus 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.

Source: Company Press Release