Grifols, a global healthcare company focused on bioscience, diagnostics and solutions for hospitals, will provide the Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS) with its innovative NAT technology (Nucleic Acid Amplification Technique) in order to help analyze the 5.3 million blood donations that are made in Japan every year.

Grifols will provide the JRCS with the company’s cutting edge automated Procleix® Panther® System platform and associated assays. This will allow the Japanese Red Cross to perform simultaneous screening of blood donations for both HIV and Hepatitis, before the blood is released for transfusions or other medical uses.

The Procleix® Panther® System is being used by over 60 blood screening laboratories around the world. This automated analytical system takes up little lab space and has an easy to use tactile screen. Operators can screen samples as they arrive in the lab (continuous loading) or in batches. The platform also provides immediate access to results once they are complete and can load data directly into the laboratory information system (LIS).

The JRCS chose the Spanish system after evaluating all of the available options in the market. Performance criteria included measuring the efficiency of testing each blood donor sample separately instead of in pools.

The blood bank in Japan’s northern Hokkaido region will be the world’s first to incorporate screening of blood donations for the Hepatitis E virus (HEV), using the Spanish firm’s Procleix® HEV assay.