Information on a procedure which could have enabled the Blood Transfusion Service Board become self-sufficient in the manufacturing of concentrates for haemophiliacs was freely available in the 1980s, the Lindsay tribunal heard yesterday.
Prof Juhani Leikola, director of the Finnish Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service, said the method which it pioneered in spring 1984 on the production of intermediate-purity factor 8 was unprotected by manufacturing secrets or patents. All information about the technology was "freely distributed" to interested parties, he said.
The product, introduced on a phased basis from June 1984, allowed Finland to avoid using imported concentrates over which there were safety fears regarding HIV. This, said Prof Leikola, contributed to Finland's "very favourable" infection rate of only two cases of HIV in a haemophilia population of over 180. Both infections were caused by locally made croyprecipitate.
This situation was compared to the Republic where imported concentrates were widely used throughout the 1980s, infecting almost 100 haemophiliacs with HIV.
The tribunal has heard the BTSB attempted to make its own intermediate-purity factor 8 in the early 1980s using a heparin-based technology. Despite promising reports, the project was suddenly abandoned in 1984 when the blood bank engaged an overseas drugs company to produce concentrates from Irish plasma.
There has been no evidence to suggest the BTSB contacted its Finnish counterpart to examine the feasibility of using its technology.
Prof Leikola noted that the Finnish transfusion service allocated 4 to 5 per cent of its plasma income budget to its self-sufficiency project. Two to three scientists were engaged to work on it full time.
This contrasted with the Irish project, on which the late Mr Sean Hanratty, former BTSB senior technical officer, worked in his spare time. He was assisted by a laboratory technician who told the tribunal last year that she spent just 10 days on the project in late 1981-early 1982.
