Cerus 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.
“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.”
As 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).
Some 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. SARS-CoV-2 is the
causative agent of COVID-19 and the genetic sequence is at least
70% similar to that of SARS-CoV4.
“The use of the INTERCEPT technology improves the overall safety
of convalescent COVID-19 plasma by reducing the risk of other
sources of infection in the plasma; and may enable earlier
collection of plasma from recovered donors than would otherwise be
possible,” continued Dr. Corash. “We are already supporting a
number of our customers who are initiating convalescent plasma
collection programs.”
“Prior studies have shown the potential benefit of convalescent
plasma,” said Edward L. Snyder, MD attending physician at the Yale
New Haven Hospital Transfusion Service. “There is a critical need
to characterize the antibody in the convalescent plasma as this
Research Consortium has proposed. This approach may allow
researchers to optimize a therapeutic approach to combating the
COVID-19 viral pandemic.”
- Aylward B, Liang W. Report of the WHO-China Joint Mission on
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). World Health Organization,
2020.
- Bao L, Deng W, Gao H, Xiao C, Xue J, lv Q, et al. Reinfection
could not occur in SARS-CoV-2 infected rhesus macaques. bioRxiv.
2020;doi.org/10.110/2020.03.13990226.
- Cheng Y, Wong R, Soo YO, Wong WS, Lee CK, Ng MH, et al. Use of
convalescent plasma therapy in SARS patients in Hong Kong. Eur J
Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2005;24(1):44-6. Epub 2004/12/24.
- Hui DS, Azhar EI, Madani TA, Ntoumi F, Kock R, Dar O, Ippolito
G, Mchugh TD, Memish ZA, Drosten C, Zumla A, Petersen E. The
continuing 2019-nCoV epidemic threat of novel coronaviruses to
global health - The latest 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak in
Wuhan, China. International Journal of Infectious Diseases, Volume
91, 264 – 266 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2020.01.009)
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
ABOUT CONVALESCENT PLASMA:
Passive immunity has proven effective for cytomegalovirus (CMV),
hepatitis B virus, rabies, tetanus, varicella, certain SARS
variants, Argentine Hemorrhagic Fever, and various other illnesses.
Convalescent plasma has been cited as a potential therapy for viral
infection dating back to the 1918 Spanish influenza A (H1N1)
pandemic. Since that time, convalescent plasma as passive immune
therapy has been evaluated in the treatment of: Ebola, SARS
coronavirus (SARS-CoV), 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1), Argentine
Hemorrhagic Fever, CMV, Parvovirus B19, and others. Furthermore, a
February 2020 WHO report states “The cellular infectivity of the
isolated viruses could be completely neutralized by the sera
collected from convalescent patients.” [Source:
https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/who-china-joint-mission-on-covid-19-final-report.pdf
]
ABOUT CERUS
Cerus Corporation is dedicated solely to safeguarding the
world’s blood supply and aims to become the preeminent global blood
products company. Based in Concord, California, our employees are
dedicated to deploying and supplying vital technologies and
pathogen-protected blood components for blood centers, hospitals
and ultimately patients who rely on safe blood. With the INTERCEPT
Blood System, we are focused on protecting patients by delivering
the full complement of reliable products and expertise for
transfusion medicine. Cerus develops and markets the INTERCEPT
Blood System, and remains the only company in the blood transfusion
space to earn both CE Mark and FDA approval for pathogen reduction
of both platelet and plasma components. Cerus currently markets and
sells the INTERCEPT Blood System in the United States, Europe, the
Commonwealth of Independent States, the Middle East and selected
countries in other regions around the world. The INTERCEPT Red
Blood Cell system is in clinical development. For more information
about Cerus visit www.cerus.com, and follow us on LinkedIn.
INTERCEPT and the INTERCEPT Blood System are trademarks of Cerus
Corporation.
ABOUT ENABLE BIOSCIENCES
Enable Biosciences is a multi-award-winning serologic
diagnostics company operating a CLIA certified high-complexity
clinical reference laboratory and research facility in South San
Francisco. Enable’s fully automated high-throughput ultrasensitive
and highly specific multiplex antibody detection analyzer uses its
novel Antibody Detection by Agglutination PCR (ADAP)
chemistry to service global clients in the infectious disease,
autoimmunity and allergy spaces. ADAP is 100 to 10,000 times more
sensitive than ELISA and ultraspecific, enabling the earliest
possible detection of multiple disease-related antibodies
simultaneously for optimal treatment timing to yield the best
outcomes. Enable has produced the independently-assessed world’s
best performing serologic tests for Type 1 diabetes and HIV in oral
fluid and other infectious diseases including Zika and Dengue. For
more information about Enable Biosciences visit
www.enablebiosciences.com and follow
us on Twitter.
ABOUT VITALANT RESEARCH INSTITUTE AND VITALANT BLOOD
CENTERS
The Vitalant Research Institute (VRI), San Francisco is an
integral component of the Vitalant national blood collection
establishment. VRI is directed by Dr. Michael Busch. Established in
1959, VRI has been a major component of the Retroviral Epidemiology
Donor Study (REDS) funded by NHLBI to conduct surveillance studies
of epidemic transfusion-transmitted infections and infectious
pathogens that may impact the blood supply.
ABOUT THE VACCINE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER, UC
IRVINE
The UC Irvine Vaccine Research and Development Center (VRDC) is
directed by Dr. Philip Felgner. His laboratory is experienced in
high throughput cloning and protein microarray chip technology to
screen for antibody epitope specificity. Protein microarray
technology developed in the VRDC has been used to detect antibodies
against tens of thousands of antigens from multiple infectious
pathogens in thousands of serum specimens collected worldwide and
is poised to apply the technology to better understand protective
immunity against COVID-19.
ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMEN OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Dr. Carl V Hanson is Clinical Laboratory Director of the Viral
and Rickettsial Disease Laboratory (VRDL), California State
Department of Public Health (CDPH). The laboratory of Dr. Carl
Hanson is highly experienced in the isolation and culturing of
human viruses and has developed neutralizing antibody assays for
many viral diseases.
ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA NATIONAL PRIMATE RESEARCH CENTER
(CNPRC)
The CNPRC is associated with the University of California,
Davis. It currently has an animal census of ~4,200 rhesus monkeys
(Macaca mulatta). The vivarium, which is part of the UC Davis
AAALAC-accredited program, includes indoor animal space with animal
housing areas, hospitals, surgery suites, nurseries, radioactive
monitoring housing areas, and infectious animal housing, included
dedicated space for animals infected with specific infectious
agents.
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Tim Lee – Investor Relations Director Cerus Corporation
925-288-6137
Media Contact: Dan Boyle W20 Communications dan@boylepr.com
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