Jena, Germany: The Institute for Transfusion Medicine Implements New Plasma Product

Read the Institute for Transfusion Medicine UKJ Press Release (original German)

2/21/2011 Life-saving plasma faster from donor to patient
New plasma unit developed at the Institute for Transfusion Medicine of the University Hospital Jena (UKJ)

Jena. The Institute for Transfusion Medicine at the University Hospital Jena has developed a new plasma unit. This approved product is unique within the EU; it can be prepared faster than the current product while simultaneously providing the highest safety. Plasma is necessary in acute emergencies and during operations, as well for plasma exchanges (e.g. in cases of organ rejection after transplants), or for the treatment of neurological and internal diseases.

"Now we can process the donated plasma directly here on site and use it, "Prof. Dagmar Barz, Director of the Institute for Transfusion Medicine, explains. " For us it was important to develop a new low-risk plasma product, which is well tolerated and suitable for plasma exchange treatments, because a patient can receive up to 16 units of donor plasma per treatment," according to Barz.

For two years, the team of Prof. Barz worked on the development of the product. It's specific safety is ensured by a two-step process. Pathogen reduction removes pathogens and a 0.65-micron filter removes blood cells from the blood. "Blood cells are responsible for immunological adverse reactions," explains Dagmar Barz. "So far no other manufacturer in Europe takes this filter step. The exceptional characteristic is that the processed product is available for the patient immediately, which is not the case with standard plasma products," adds Barz.

"This way we can manufacture individually required transfusion products within a day" explains Oberärztin Silke Rummler, Head of the Therapeutic Apheresis Center at the Institute of Transfusion Medicine of the UKJ. In addition to use in emergencies with severe blood loss, the plasma is also used for therapeutic plasma exchanges. In these cases, the allo-and auto-antibodies which may cause disease are removed from the blood of the patient, usually by replacing the patient's own plasma with fresh plasma in a procedure lasting several hours. Therapeutic plasma exchange is particularly often indicated in the early phase after transplantation, when the body's immune system attacks the new organ. The plasma exchange can stop this rejection, and if treatment starts early -sometimes before the transplantation – it may even prevent it. "Some of our patients require only one or two treatments, others develop a chronic disorder and need to come to us for plasma exchanges regularly," states Rummel.

For plasma donors at the Jena University Hospital Blood Bank, the new development is good news. "The fact that my donation can be used directly in the hospital is important to me," says Lars Siegmund. The 28 year old student regularly donates plasma at the UKJ also to help the patients in Jena.

Meanwhile, the new drug is already being used at Jena University Hospital and is being further scientifically analyzed and followed in an observational study. Medical professionals expect the first results on this in about two years.