Pathogen reduction

INFO

A pathogen-reduction red blood cell process from Vitex (www.vitechnologies.com) was shown to successfully inactivate the infectious bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, which causes Lyme disease. The company's process also effectively inactivates the virus that causes West Nile encephalitis. The technology works by forming an irreversible bond to the RNA or DNA of the pathogen, which prevents replication and thereby "kills" the pathogens. Vitex recently reached written agreement with FDA to initiate phase 3 clinical trials.

In recent years, Lyme disease and West Nile encephalitis …