Pall and Kawasumi Announce Marketing Agreement

An agreement for Kawasumi Laboratories (Tokyo, Japan) to become the exclusive provider in Japan of the enhanced bacterial detection system (eBDS) of Pall Corp. (East Hills, NY, USA) has been announced by Pall.

Bacterial contamination of platelets is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality from a blood transfusion. Bacteria contaminate from one in 2,000 to one in 5,000 platelets collected worldwide. Pall's eBDS is designed to provide the most comprehensive, reliable, and sensitive detection of bacteria in order to meet a new standard set by the American Association of Blood Banks in March 2004. This standard requires U.S. blood centers to test all platelet components for the presence of bacteria prior to transfusion.

This agreement is the latest in a ten-year long relationship between the two companies. Kawasumi, a leading provider of medical devices and pharmaceuticals for blood banking, uses only Pall leukocyte reduction filters in its blood collection and transfusion systems and is Pall's exclusive distributor of these filters in Japan. Pall is receiving milestone payments from Kawasumi for providing scientific and technical support to help bring the eBDS technology to market in Japan. Kawasumi will also submit the product to the Japanese regulatory authority, whose approval process often mirrors that of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

"We have kept Kawasumi closely informed of our progress throughout the development of the eBDS since Japan is a nation that is highly focused on blood product safety and quality,” said Roberto Perez, president of Pall Life Sciences. "We are highly confident that this will be a mutually beneficial relationship for both companies as well as for all blood transfusion patients in Japan.

The eBDS is part of Pall's medical bacteria risk management program, which includes products to address contamination at every stage of blood collection and processing.




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