Local Region of American Red Cross Selects Pall Filters.

EAST HILLS, N.Y.--(BW HealthWire)--July 28, 1999--

Tennessee Valley Becomes Fourth Red Cross Region in Nation to

Make Switch to All Leukocyte-Reduced Blood

Pall Corporation, (NYSE: PLL), announced today that the Tennessee Valley Region of the American Red Cross has selected Pall filters to reduce leukocytes (white blood cells) in all blood products for the 75 hospitals that it supplies. This is the fourth American Red Cross blood region to convert to 100 percent filtration since January of this year. Nationally, the Red Cross is committed to providing only leukocyte-reduced blood by the end of the year 2000. Pall Corporation's revolutionary filter technology being used by the American Red Cross significantly reduces white blood cells in donor blood. For patients and health care systems, this means fewer complications, faster recoveries and lower costs.

With its conversion to leukocyte-reduced blood, the Tennessee Valley Region joins Red Cross regions in Louisville, Birmingham and Mobile that have also recently converted to an all leukocyte-reduced inventory. Their decision is consistent with the recommendation last fall by the Blood Products Advisory Committee (BPAC) of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which concluded, "the benefit to risk ratio associated with leukoreduction is sufficiently great to justify routine leukoreduction of all non-leukocyte transfusion blood components." BPAC is an advisory committee to the FDA, which means it makes recommendations to, but does not set policies for, the agency.

"Pall is pleased that the Tennessee Valley Region of the American Red Cross has committed to leukocyte reduction by filtration to make blood transfusions safer," said Eric Krasnoff, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pall Corporation. "The many clinical benefits of filtration have also been proven to be cost effective. Routine filtration is already making the blood supply safer in many European countries and Canada. The Tennessee Valley Region has assumed a leadership role in adopting universal leukocyte reduction in the United States."

"We believe pre-storage leukocyte reduced blood will benefit many patients, particularly those who need repeated transfusions, cancer treatment or major operations," said Dr. Brian Carlson, Medical Director for the American Red Cross, Tennessee Valley Blood Services Region. "We think this conversion to 100 percent leukocyte-reduced inventory is a step forward in protecting the safety of the blood supply."

Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the largest blood user in the 80-county region, began ordering only leukocyte-reduced blood last fall. "We did it because it's best for the patient," stated Dr. Anne T. Thomas, Assistant Professor of Pathology and Medicine and Director of the hospital's blood bank. Thomas says the hospital has seen a drop in blood transfusion reactions, specifically febrile nonhemolytic transfusion reactions (fever and chills), since it began using only leukocyte-reduced blood last September.

Benefits of Leukocyte Reduction

Clinical studies(1,2,3) have demonstrated that filtering leukocytes from blood using Pall filters results in a decrease of infection, length of hospital stay and cost of care for surgical patients. Leukocytes have also been identified as a potent mediator of serious clinical transfusion complications, including pathogen transmission, immune suppression, and platelet refractoriness.

Many viruses(4), including cytomegalovirus (CMV), Human T-cell Lymphotrophic Virus (HTLV-1) and Epstein-Barr and other Herpes viruses and bacteria (including Yersinia), are white cell or leukocyte associated. Blood donors are routinely screened for only a few of these viruses. Filtration is an important line of defense against these agents and, perhaps, other emerging or yet-to-be discovered viruses or bacteria.

Each year approximately 2.5 million Americans receive blood transfusions while undergoing surgery. This accounts for over half of all transfused blood used in the United States. The amount of blood required for certain surgeries varies considerably. For an organ transplant, up to 100 units of blood may be required; an open heart surgical procedure can use up to 40 units, while hip replacement surgery may require from two to as many as 20 units of blood or blood components. Studies have shown that patients who receive filtered blood experience less transfusion-associated immune suppression and fewer post-surgical infections and that they remain in the hospital for less time and cost less to treat.(5,6)

Cancer patients, including leukemics and bone marrow transplant recipients, require platelet transfusions as a critical part of their treatment but can develop antibodies to these transfusions resulting in rejection. Leukocytes are responsible for the induction of these antibodies. Reducing them is a proven means of avoiding this life-threatening complication, thereby maintaining precious blood utilization and its associated costs.(7)

Several countries, including Canada, England, France, Portugal, Ireland and Scotland have already made the decision to filter all blood and are moving forward with their implementation programs.

Blood Filtration in the United States

In the United States, about 12 million units of blood are collected and transfused each year. Approximately 60 percent of platelet units and 30 percent of red blood cell units are currently filtered to reduce leukocytes.

About Pall

Pall Corporation is a specialty materials and engineering company with the broadest-based filtration and separation capabilities in the world. Pall develops and manufactures sophisticated filtration systems that are used in critical applications throughout industry.

In Health Care, the company's largest business segment, Pall offers the broadest array of filtration products that are used in the blood center, hospital blood bank and the patient's bedside. Pall pioneered the development of leukocyte reduction blood filters and leukocyte reduction blood processing systems used by hospitals and blood centers.

Pall Corporation, with annual sales over $1 billion, is based in East Hills, New York, and employs 8,500 people throughout the world. The Company's shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (PLL) and the London Stock Exchange (0668260).

For more information on leukocyte reduction, please visit the Pall Corporation Web site at: http://www.pall.com/leukoreduce or the educational Web site that Pall sponsors at: http://www.bloodtransfusion.com.

References:

(1) Jensen LS, et al. Cost-effectiveness of blood transfusion and

white cell reduction in elective colorectal surgery. Transfusion

1995;35:719-722.

(2) Jensen LS, et al. Randomised comparison of leucocyte-depleted

versus buffy-coat poor blood transfusion and complications after

colorectal surgery. Lancet 1996;348:841-845.

(3) Tartter PI, et al. Randomized trial comparing packed red cell

blood transfusion with and without leukocyte depletion for

gastrointestinal surgery. Am J Surg 1998;176:462-466.

(4) Bowden RA, et al. A comparison of filtered leukocyte reduced and

cytomegalovirus (CMV) seronegative blood products for the

prevention of transfusion-associated CMV infection after marrow

transplant. Blood 1995;86:3598-3603

(5) Blumberg N, Allogeneic transfusion and infection: economic and

clinical implications. Seminars in Hematology 1997;34:34-40.

(6) Blumberg N, Heal JM. Blood transfusion immunomodulation. The

silent epidemic . Arch Pathol Lab Med 1998;122:117-119

(7) The Trial to Reduce Alloimmunization to Platelets Study Group.

Leukocyte reduction and ultraviolet B irradiation of platelets to

prevent alloimmunization and refractoriness to platelet

transfusions. N. Engl J Med 1997;337:1861-1868