| Abstract: | Four years' experience with a method for preparing a high-purity, low-fibrinogen, heat-treated factor VIII concentrate is reported. The process, batch adsorption of a cryoprecipitate extract with controlled-pore glass granules, removes 77 percent of the cryoprecipitate fibrinogen, resulting in a final concentrate-specific activity of 0.74 IU factor VIII per mg of protein at a yield of 194 IU factor VIII per kg of starting plasma. Heat treatment of the lyophilized concentrate for 72 hours at 60 degrees C results in less than 10 percent loss of factor VIII activity. This process does not require expensive fractionation equipment, is suitable for small-to medium-scale batch concentrate production and could be adopted by moderately well-equipped regional blood processing laboratories for the decentralized production of a high-quality, heat-treated factor VIII concentrate. |
