Is clotting factor clean today?
DePrince: It is relatively clean. It no longer carries HIV unless there is a lab error. Incidents of HIV transmission have been extremely rare since 1987. MM: What changed in 1987 to make this problem virtually go away? DePrince: By 1987, all of the U.S. companies and international manufacturers of clotting factor were using effective heat treatment processes, or they used a solvent detergent process which was very effective. MM: What forced the change? DePrince: In 1983, the CDC and National Institutes of Health conducted a nationwide surveillance of hemophiliacs. It was determined that probably one-third to one-half of hemophiliacs in the study would go on to develop AIDS. And that was only in 1983. Hemophiliacs continued to be infected after that for another few years. The manufacturers then realized they were going to be killing off their consumers. MM: The manufacturers did nothing until they saw their patient population was being killed off? DePrince: To be fair, the manufacturer
