Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) announced today that its Phase 1 trial of red blood cells treated with the INTERCEPT Blood System met its primary endpoint, with preliminary analysis demonstrating that greater than 75 percent of treated cells continued to circulate 24 hours following transfusion. The INTERCEPT red blood cell system is a pathogen inactivation treatment the company is developing to protect against transmission of infectious diseases through red blood cell transfusions. An estimated 70 million units of red blood cells are transfused worldwide each year.
“With pathogen inactivation of platelets and plasma currently in routine use, the advancement of our red blood cell system will offer a comprehensive solution to transfusion-transmitted infections for all blood products”
"We are pleased with the results of this study, which provide support to advance the INTERCEPT red blood cell program into late-stage clinical studies in pursuit of European product approval," said Dr. Laurence Corash, Cerus' Chief Medical Officer. "The data from this study met recommended criteria for a successful red cell recovery study and showed significant improvement over prior generations of the technology.”