Cerus Corporation announced that the Swiss regulatory body, Swissmedic, has approved the use of platelet components treated with Cerus' Intercept Blood System. The approval extends permitted storage time for platelets to seven days with Intercept treatment, compared to five days without treatment.

The regulatory review process by Swissmedic is similar to the regulatory processes in France (Afssaps) and Germany (Paul Ehrlich Institute), in which Intercept-treated blood components have been approved as a biologic for patient use. Cerus has previously received CE mark approval for its Intercept platelet and plasma systems, which allows Cerus to sell the systems in the European Union.

The Intercept platelet system has been piloted in Basel over the past three years and also has been used in clinical studies elsewhere in Switzerland. It is estimated that Switzerland produces approximately 20,000 platelet doses and 75,000 plasma units for transfusion annually. The Intercept plasma system is under review by Swissmedic.

Cerus Corporation is a biomedical products company focused on commercializing the Intercept Blood System to enhance blood safety. The Intercept Blood System is designed to inactivate blood-borne pathogens in donated blood components intended for transfusion.