Cerus Forms Group to Research Optimal Production of COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma

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[{"type":"text","content":" CONCORD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nCerus Corporation (Nasdaq: CERS) announced today that it has formed a collaborative research group with the aim of optimizing convalescent plasma therapy for COVID-19 patients. The research group seeks to define the key characteristics that influence the efficacy of convalescent plasma, including the level and nature of anti-COVID-19 antibodies, optimal collection timing, dosing and how these influence responses to the therapy regimen. Cerus’ research group collaborators include the California Department of Public Health, the University of California, Irvine’s Vaccine Development Research Laboratory, the Vitalant Research Institute, the California National Primate Research Center, and Enable Biosciences.\n\n\n“Convalescent plasma is one of few interventions that can be made available rapidly following the emergence of a new epidemic, and globally a number of investigators are already initiating this promising therapy,” said Dr. Laurence Corash, Cerus’ chief scientific officer. “Given the emergent conditions under which convalescent plasma is used, there is often very little opportunity to fully characterize each unit of plasma; yet doing so is likely to give us very important insights into the responses seen in patients. This research group brings together the tools and experience to generate data that may help improve production of convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19, as well as applying the information to future uses of convalescent plasma as new pathogens continue to emerge.”\n\n\nAs the number of convalescent or asymptomatic COVID-19 individuals in the community increases, the sources of convalescent plasma become more abundant. Data from China indicate that antibodies collected from recovered COVID-19 patients can prevent infection of cells, and protect against infection in a COVID-19 primate model(1,2). During an earlier SARS epidemic, patients who received convalescent plasma with antibodies to SARS recovered more rapidly(3).\n\n\nSome convalescent plasma therapies have been produced using pathogen reduction technology, such as Cerus’ INTERCEPT Blood System, to reduce the risk of other viruses, bacteria, and parasites that could be present in the convalescent plasma donation. The INTERCEPT plasma system has approved label claims for SARS-CoV inactivation in both the US and Europe. SA...

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