Biotherapies Pavilion Participant Spotlight: Versiti Inc.

What would you say has been the biggest challenge for Versiti Inc. in the past five years?

The major macro-economic headwinds that have plagued all industries have also challenged Versiti. Challenges in employee retention, blood donor recruitment and collections, rising costs and unpredictable business climates resulting from the pandemic have tested Versiti’s ability to be nimble in our approach to service. Through strong leadership and diversified service lines, Versiti has experienced growth in the last five years. We are strongly positioned to continue serving our donors and our physician/hospital partners, while continuing to invest in new capabilities and technologies to push the boundaries in blood health innovation.

What are your most important goals as a company for this year and next? What are you most excited to see develop?

At Versiti, we know people need people. To best support our local communities, patients nationwide, and enable the development of new science and medicine, Versiti is committed to our people. We continue to strengthen our relations with our employees, blood donors and partners. We recognize that without them, we cannot be successful with current services or innovations. In a similar vein, Versiti continues to integrate our business operations to better serve our customers.

Some of the most exciting developments have been in Versiti’s Clinical Trials services. Recent acquisitions of Cenetron Salus IRB, and Quantigen, together with our investment and expansion of service to the cell and gene therapy space, positions Versiti for significant growth in this industry. All these services together provide researchers, developers and manufacturers solutions that span discovery through commercialization.

How did Versiti Inc. first start collaborating with AABB? How do you see AABB’s role in helping companies such as yourself continue to advance within the biotherapies field?

Versiti, and its controlled affiliates, have been a part of AABB for decades. We have relied on each other’s expertise and collaboration in overcoming challenges and advancing the field of transfusion medicine. As the next frontier of transfusion medicine solutions, biotherapies present challenges in sourcing, manufacturing, patient access, payment models and regulatory environments. AABB can play a pivotal role in helping drive understanding of what transfusion medicine organizations can offer, while helping standardize outputs and drive collaborations with regulatory bodies.

AABB can also help provide educational resources and training for traditional blood bankers to help meet the demand for new skill sets to support this industry, such as cell product manipulations, cryopreservation and characterization assays like flow cytometry.

What do you think will be the next big development within the biotherapies field as a whole?

Most of the biotherapies developments are autologous therapies targeted to CD19. Allogeneic therapies seem to provide many answers to challenges in the field, particularly in access and cost. Some early phase trial wins in the allogeneic space and the expansion to new targets hold the potential to rapidly advance the field. Increased collaboration across modalities may also help propel the field.

What do you find most rewarding about working within the biotherapies field? What advice would you give to someone starting their biotherapies career?

Someday my children will have treatment options for diseases that are incurable today. That is what gets me out of bed in the morning. Versiti has provided blood products to extend time for patients for decades. We are now providing products that are being turned into actual cures for disease. We are really on the forefront of what biotherapies can offer. It is a dynamic field with unexpected challenges. However, the excitement of blazing new trails, knowing what you are doing is changing the treatment landscape of some of the most challenging diseases exceeds the speed bumps along the way.