Sterilization of units of RBCs on the horizon

LifeTECH Corporation, of Toronto, Canada, recently announced that its Sterinetics System successfully inactivated three hazardous viruses – recognized by North American and European regulatory agencies as the animal equivalent of the human hepatitis C virus, in addition to Rhinotracheitis I and Adenovirus – in human intravenous immunoglobulin.

"We would like to have a product on the market for the sterilization of units of red blood cells in the next three or four years," LifeTECH spokesperson Jo Mira Clodman told Home Infusion Therapy Management.

Preclinical trials are slated to begin in early 1997 with two trials in the United States and one in Canada. The company says its Sterinetics System is designed to inactivate viruses and bacteria in the global blood supply, including the HIV and hepatitis viruses.