Cerus Blood Treatment Matches Standard Care in Key Trial

Cerus Corp announced on Monday that its blood safety system performed just as well as standard transfusions in a major clinical trial.

The company developed the Intercept technology to lower the chance that donated blood carries viruses or bacteria. The late-stage study confirmed that red blood cells treated with this method were non-inferior to conventional cells. Doctors measured success using adjusted hemoglobin increment, a standard metric for how well a transfusion works.

Patients receiving the treated blood did not experience more treatment-related adverse events than those receiving standard blood. The data showed no statistically significant difference between the two groups. A small number of patients developed temporary antibodies specific to the Intercept process. Cerus stated that there was no evidence of hemolysis, which is the destruction of red blood cells, and no clinical impact was observed in these cases.

The technology remains experimental in the United States. The US Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved it for general use. Cerus noted that the agency has not yet reviewed the final study report.