WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Over the next year, the American Red
Cross will implement a plan to accelerate to a full conversion of fresh frozen
plasma to its virus-inactivated alternative, PLAS+(R)SD (Pooled Plasma,
Solvent Detergent Treated).
    Consistent with this conversion policy, the American Red Cross will offer
more favorable pricing initiatives to make Plas+SD available to more patients
nationwide and to reduce the burden to hospital budgets.  Additionally, the
American Red Cross has just signed an agreement with Novation, the nation's
largest group purchasing organization, to facilitate the distribution of
Plas+SD to approximately 2,000 hospitals.  Under the Novation agreement,
member hospitals will be able to obtain favorable prices for Plas+SD.
    "The American Red Cross believes that virus inactivation is an appropriate
mechanism to help safeguard the blood supply," said Jacquelyn Fredrick, chief
operating officer of the American Red Cross Blood Services.  "We are
continually exploring new methods of virus inactivation; Plas+SD represents
the first time a technology to inactivate viruses has been successfully
applied to a blood component."
    According to Dr. Richard Davey, chief medical officer of the American Red
Cross, "The American Red Cross believes that virus inactivation will become
the standard of care for all blood components.  Plas+SD has the advantage of
destroying any lipid-enveloped viruses that may be present in collected blood
by stripping away their lipid (fatty) coating.  We look forward to new
generations of virus inactivated blood products as they become available."
    In the April 1999 issue of "Transfusion Medicine Reviews," Celso Bianco,
MD, vice president of the New York Blood Center, identified Plas+SD as an
excellent choice for the following conditions:  treatment of TTP (a
potentially life-threatening blood platelet disorder), coagulation factor
deficiencies where a specific concentrate is not available, treatment of
severe liver disease, and reversal of warfarin (anticoagulant) therapy.  "We
concur with these recommendations," added Dr. Davey.
    Plas+SD is a solvent detergent treated, pooled frozen plasma product for
transfusion manufactured for the American Red Cross by V. I. Technologies,
Inc. (VITEX) (Nasdaq: VITX).  Introduced in May 1998, Plas+SD is an
alternative to other forms of fresh frozen plasma available in the U.S.  The
proven solvent detergent (SD) process inactivates lipid-enveloped viruses,
such as those that cause AIDS, hepatitis B and hepatitis C.  Plas+SD is also
sterile filtered, resulting in a leukoreduced product free of the largest von
Willebrand Factor multimers, bacteria and parasites.
    Non lipid-enveloped viruses such as hepatitis A and parvovirus B19 are not
affected by the SD process.  However, all lots of Plas+SD are PCR tested as
negative for HAV nucleic acid prior to release.*  Alternative products,
including fresh frozen plasma and donor retested plasma, are neither virus
inactivated nor routinely tested for hepatitis A virus.  On July 23, 1999,
VITEX submitted a validation protocol to the Food and Drug Administration for
a similar PCR test for parvovirus B19.
    The blood supply today is safer than it has ever been, and the Red Cross
is constantly working to make it even safer.  Improved donor screening
techniques, infectious disease testing, introduction of nucleic acid testing
for HIV and hepatitis C virus, and virus inactivation procedures have greatly
enhanced the safety of blood components and products in the United States.
These enhancements are consistent with the Red Cross mission to provide the
safest possible blood supply for the American people.
    The American Red Cross is the nation's largest supplier of blood, plasma
and tissue products in the United States.  The Red Cross supplies almost half
of the nation's blood supply by working with more than 4.5 million donors and
3,000 hospitals through its national network of 37 blood regions.  In
addition, the Red Cross supplies one-quarter of the nation's tissue for
transplantation through its network of 15 tissue centers nationwide.

    *This is based on measuring the amount of HAV genomic material present in
the product.  A negative result means that the product has been tested and
shown to have not more than an average of 9.4 GE (genome equivalents) of HAV
genomic material per mL.

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