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June 9th, 2006 Octapharma Nordic signs collaboration agreement with the Finnish Red Cross Blood Service
At present, Finnish hospitals mainly use fresh-frozen plasma produced by the Blood Service and a smaller amount of Octaplas derived from Austrian plasma. Octaplas made from Finnish plasma will replace both these products in all Finnish hospitals by the start of 2007. Octaplas for Finland will be produced solely and exclusively from plasma collected from Finnish blood donors by the Finnish Red Cross Blood Service. Octaplas will be imported into Finland from Austria following production. The Blood Service will act as distributor of the product in Finland . Octaplas is the only pharmaceutically licensed proven alternative to fresh-frozen plasma. Already licensed in more than 20 countries, the efficacy and tolerability of Octaplas has been demonstrated in several clinical studies. During plasma processing to make Octaplas, all blood cells remaining in the plasma are removed. The production process also destroys almost any disease-causing bacteria and viruses, including HIV and hepatitis B and C viruses. Human leucocyte antigen (HLA), the agent responsible for immune system mediated transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI), a rare but serious adverse event associated with use of fresh-frozen plasma, are below detection limits in Octaplas. TRALI has never been reported in connection with Octaplas. There were seven cases of TRALI in Finland in 2005 following treatments with fresh frozen plasma. Over five million units of Octaplas have been administered to date worldwide, corresponding to more than a century's consumption in Finland . The adoption of Octaplas will facilitate the logistics of plasma therapy, as the number of blood group-specific plasma products is reduced from eight to four. While Octaplas still contains ABO blood group antibodies, which must be taken into account in blood transfusion, Rh antibodies have been removed in the production process. The simplified logistics lowers the risk of human error in blood transfusion. Additionally, Octaplas can be stored frozen for up to four years. Fresh-frozen plasma is used to treat surgical patients or accident victims in the event of major blood loss, as well as for the management of liver diseases in Finland. Octaplas will take the place of fresh-frozen plasma in all its uses.
Finnish Red Cross Press Release. (Please note that clicking on this link will take you outside of the Octapharma web site) Further information: Janne Nissilä, Country Manager Finland, Octapharma Nordic AB Tel: +358 400 606 301, e-mail: janne.nissila@octapharma.fi Jukka Rautonen, Director, Finnish Red Cross Blood Service Tel: +358 9 580 1250, e-mail: jukka.rautonen@veripalvelu.fi The Finnish Red Cross Blood Service is the nationwide blood service provider in Finland. Its services comprise recruiting blood donors, organising blood donation, collecting blood and testing the donated blood. The Blood Service employs a permanent workforce of some 500 people, most of whom work at the Helsinki Blood Centre in Kivihaka. The regional centres and other donor centres of the Blood Service employ about a hundred people at 16 locations. Octapharma was established in 1983 and operates worldwide as a plasma fractionation specialist. Its core business is the development, production and distribution of high-quality plasma derivatives. The company employs 1 400 staff and has operations in 27 countries, with production facilities in Austria, France, Sweden and Mexico. Through collaboration networks, Octapharma products are available in more than 70 countries. Octapharma AG, 2006 |
