Pathogen inactivation in labile blood products transfusion safety and economic impact

The safety of labile blood products (red blood cell concentrates, platelet concentrates and plasma) is currently ensured by medical and biological donor selection measures. Nonetheless, in addition to the residual risk of bacterial infection of platelet concentrates and parasitic infection of red cell concentrates, there is the emerging danger associated with new viruses. Pathogen inactivation based on chemical or photochemical genomic modifications is a broad-spectrum approach. These techniques are already used to inactivate plasma, and are being developed for application to platelet and erythrocyte concentrates. Universal inactivation of all labile blood products should be possible in a few years' time, but clinical and hemovigilance studies must first show that the biological properties and therapeutic efficacy of these products are not markedly affected, and that the methods used do not lead to long-term toxicity.