Addressing A Major Public Need: The Ocata Preclinical Pipeline, Part 2: Platelet Production
Oct. 1, 2015 4:29 PM • OCAT
Summary
Ocata has published and patented methods for robust, scaleable production of platelets.
Platelets are the most fragile and critical portion of blood and help to keep patients alive in emergency situations.
Platelet production is highly amenable to any type of stem cell source because they do not need to divide; hence, there is no possible cancer risk.
In the public's perception, "artificial blood" is a tenuous holy grail, primarily because we're constantly reminded of blood shortages and the need for more donors. Platelets are the cells specialized to facilitate blood clotting, and in a variety of settings this is the most important component of a blood transfusion.
Why is this so important? It's easy to imagine the immediate need for clotting in an emergency situation. But in fields like cancer, management of platelet loss is crucial. One of the most adverse events of a lot of anticancer agents is called thrombocytopenia, where the blood count of platelets in patients drops below 150 billion per liter. Thrombocytopenia is the technical term for "low platelets," and it is a major concern in medicine.
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