Fractionators (blood-product manufacturers) were more fearful in 1984 of sideeffects caused by a heat treatment process that killed HIV than of the virus itself, a senior British fractionator said yesterday.
Dr James Smith told the inquiry their "dominant fear" then was that heat-treated products might cause a dangerous thrombogenic reaction in patients.
This position gradually changed from mid-1984, he said. But thrombogenicity remained "a major consideration" into 1985, so much so that British fractionators even delayed the release of heat-treated concentrates until the completion of clinical trials.
Dr Smith's evidence supports that of the BTSB which claimed that fears over thrombogenicity delayed its introduction of heat-treated products.
The BTSB first issued heat-treated Factor 9 in October 1985, 10 months after first carrying out trials. British super-heat-treated Factor 9 was also issued at the same time. However, unlike the Irish product, it was safe from HIV and hepatitis C.
Dr Smith noted that by 1983 it had been proved that concentrates, sourced from either paid or voluntary donors, were carriers of Non-A Non-B hepatitis, as hepatitis C was known. His view from then was that hepatitis C had to be seriously addressed.
Dr Smith remarked that he would not like to have been a treating doctor in 1985 when the knowledge about infection risks was "extremely fluid".
