Amustaline-glutathione Pathogen-reduced Red Blood Cell Concentrates for Transfusion-dependent Thalassaemia

Transfusion-dependent thalassaemia (TDT) requires red blood cell concentrates (RBCC) to prevent complications of anaemia, but carries risk of infection. Pathogen reduction of RBCC offers potential to reduce infectious
risk. We evaluated the efficacy and safety of pathogen-reduced (PR) Amustaline-Glutathione (A-GSH) RBCC for TDT.

Patients were randomized to a blinded 2-period crossover treatment sequence for six transfusions over
8–10 months with Control and A-GSH-RBCC. The efficacy outcome utilized non-inferiority analysis with 90% power to detect a 15% difference in transfused haemoglobin (Hb), and the safety outcome was the incidence of
antibodies to A-GSH-PR-RBCC.