| bioMérieux®
INDUSTRY and BCA/hemerica Enter Agreement
for Use of BacT/ALERT® System in Blood Centers
ST. LOUIS–bioMérieux® INDUSTRY has
announced that it has entered into an agreement with BCA/hemerica,
Warwick, RI, to supply the BacT/ALERT® automated
microbial testing system to members of BCA/hemerica’s blood
center cooperative. The blood centers will use the BacT/ALERT
for quality control testing of leukocyte reduced apheresis platelets,
a new application of the system recently cleared by the U.S. Food
& Drug Administration.
Bacterial contamination has been identified as one of the highest
transfusion-related risks in the U.S. Both BCA/hemerica and bioMérieux
are confident the BacT/ALERT will help to reduce the incidence
of bacterially contaminated platelet transfusions.
Built on bioMérieux’s patented colorimetric technology,
the BacT/ALERT 3D demonstrates excellent recovery of a wide range
of organisms typically found in apheresis platelets. BacT/ALERT
Culture Media offers the ability to detect anaerobic and aerobic
microorganisms. Constant sample monitoring alerts the user immediately
to positive samples. BacT/ALERT 3D’s patented colorimetric
sensor-and-detection technology detects microorganisms growth
by tracking CO2 production. Notification of positives is immediate
and results are dependable.
About bioMérieux INDUSTRY
bioMérieux INDUSTRY provides product solutions to quality
control and research microbiology laboratories. Applications served
include environmental monitoring, sterility testing, pathogen
screening, quality indicators, microbial identification, quality
control organisms, microbial limits and preservative effectiveness
testing.
About bioMérieux
A global leader in disease prevention and management, bioMérieux
provides assays, reagents and instrumentation for clinical microbiology,
coagulation, immunoassay, and nucleic acid diagnostics; and also
for product quality control in the agri-food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical
industries. Based in Marcy-l’Etoile, France, the company’s
U.S. headquarters is in Durham, North Carolina.
With sales of 1 billion in 2002, bioMérieux ranks as
the eighth largest
biological diagnostics company worldwide. Over 81% of its activity
takes place on an
international level. Investment in research and development represents
13% of sales.
bioMérieux, employs 5400 people throughout the world, including
3200 in Europe and 1500 in the US. The group has 15 production
sites located in France, the United States, Brazil, Italy and
the Netherlands, as well as a European logistics center in France.
Already present in over 130 countries, with more than 110 distributors
and 32 subsidiaries, bioMérieux continues its international
development by strengthening its presence in Latin America and
Asia.
About BCA/hemerica
BCA/hemerica is a cooperative based in Warwick, Rhode Island
that provides services to 29 community blood center members. BCA
divides its activities between services and programs provided
to enhance owner operations and investigation of developments
in technology and products that will affect blood banking in the
future.
Return to bioMérieux News |
