VIRAL SAFETY OF CLOTTING FACTOR CONCENTRATES

The efforts to reduce the risk of viral disease due to clotting factor concentrates have been quite successful. However, additional steps need to be taken to protect the users of these products. First, all patients should be vaccinated against hepatitis B. Second, vaccines against other viruses need to be developed. There is a great deal of interest in an HIV vaccine, and a vaccine against hepatitis C would also be a great boon to the 'at risk' population. Third, more effective inactivation procedures need to be implemented in the manufacturing of concentrates other than Factor VIII, including Factor IX Complex, Coagulation Factor IX (Human), and Anti-inhibitor Coagulant Complex. Despite the advances that have been made, it should be remembered that none of these procedures is perfect and the risk will never be reduced to zero. This is because the plasma pools will always contain infectious virus and the manufacturing process, regardless of how carefully controlled, cannot be made fail-safe. Errors will be made that result in contamination or inadequate treatment of products. For this reason, strict adherence to standard operating procedures and good manufacturing practices is essential. The investments of time, money, and hard work that have been made toward improving the safety of clotting factor concentrates have yielded a handsome return thus far. It is hoped that continued efforts in this direction will result in even greater benefits.