Aphios Corporation today announced that it has been awarded a RC-1 Challenge grant (No. 1RC1HL102822-01) from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institute of Health’s (NIH) American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds to develop a generally-applicable pathogen inactivation technology for blood products.
The recent outbreaks of pandemic strains of the influenza virus such as the H1N1 swine flu, the worldwide AIDS epidemic and the periodic emergence of Ebola and SARS have highlighted a persistent concern in the health care community -- the need for effective pathogen inactivation and removal techniques for human blood plasma and plasma-derived products. There are also a number of emerging viruses such as West Nile and the H5N1 bird flu, and a number of potential bioterrorism pathogens such as B. anthracis, Yersinia pestis (plaque), Brucella and smallpox that are of concern to the safety of the human plasma supply chain. In addition to viruses and bacteria, parasites such as Babesia spp. and Plasmodium spp. are major threats of spreading diseases through transfusion.