Haemonetics Corporation will market Crit-Scan, the first device to measure the hematocrit in blood without a painful needle stick to the finger or ear. Haemonetics and Hema Metrics Corp of Kaysville, Utah, the developer and manufacturer of Crit-Scan, have signed an agreement for exclusive worldwide marketing effective for 5 years. No other terms of the agreement were disclosed, according to a press release.
Haemonetics will market Crit-Scan to blood collectors who are required to measure a blood donor's hematocrit prior to donation to confirm the level of a donor's red blood cells. Traditionally, blood collectors have used a needle stick to the finger or earlobe of a potential donor to obtain a drop of blood for hematocrit testing. The Crit-Scan technology is non-invasive and measures hematocrit through the skin.
"Crit-Scan is leading edge technology," said Mark Popovsky, corporate medical director for Haemonetics. "Many blood donors find the invasive hematocrit tests very uncomfortable. Non-donors sometimes cite the test as a reason not to donate blood. With Crit-Scan, we can offer our customers the benefit of a comfortable process for their own 'customer' - the blood donor - while ensuring the consistent, accurate test results so necessary in this regulated environment. We believe our customers will use this device as a donor recruitment tool," he added.
"The technology has demonstrated excellent results in quality and user-friendliness in our initial field evaluation tests. We believe it will be well received by the blood collection community. We plan to introduce the technology in late summer in the U.S. and Europe this year with expansion into Japan to follow," Dr. Popovsky added.
Crit-Scan has been regulatory-cleared in the US and Europe. There are about 15 million units of blood donated each year in the US and about 40 million donated worldwide. Every blood donation must be preceded by a hematocrit test.
Haemonetics is a global company engaged in the design, manufacture and worldwide marketing of automated blood processing systems.