A world first
The Army Blood Transfusion Center (CTSA) took a significant step forward by welcoming, on February 17, 2026, the first VeliPod prototype (developed by the company Velico Medical), to its premises in Clamart. This innovation, designed to ensure rapid availability of vital blood products, strengthens CTSA’s capacity to respond to high-intensity challenges.
The hemorrhagic wound is, in fact, a major medical challenge in military medicine. It remains the leading cause of predictable and avoidable death in theaters of operations. “The first half hour is decisive in an operational situation: a hemorrhagic casualty must be taken care of from the first minutes,”confirms the head doctor of non-class services (MCSHC) Jean-Jacques LATAILLADE, director of the CTSA.
Faced with this emergency, the VeliPod innovation promises to be a major turning point in the world of blood transfusion. The MCSHC Jean-Jacques LATAILLADE, scans the major characteristics of innovation.
A new disruptive technology
Unlike the historic universal freeze-dried plasma (PLYO) produced by the CTSA, through a sublimation process (producing by cold), the VeliPod designs dry plasma using a desiccation process (drying by heat). “A different technology that time will allow us to evaluate,”completes the establishment director.
The VeliPod system includes two containers. A first container contains a hot air sterilization device to dry the collected plasma. While the second container contains two devices with distinct roles. “A first machine separates the water from the plasma while a second isolates the plasma inside a plasticized kit,”summarizes the head doctor of services. The pouch is then sealed with welds and ready for use and easy to store. A technological change that aims to circumvent the environmental and technological complexity necessary for the preparation of PLYO.
Rapidity and mobility
One of the major advantages of the VeliPod lies firstly in its speed of execution: the production of a bag takes less than an hour and its rehydration only 3 minutes before being transfused to a hemorrhagic injured person.
VeliPod containers are also configured to meet the mobility requirement imposed by the new conflicting schemes. Unlike PLYO production, whose production is fixed, dry plasma via VeliPod is designed in two mobile containers, requiring only a water and electricity supply. “The VeliPod allows manufacturing in a clean mobile environment, without resorting to heavy infrastructure such as clean rooms,â€specifies MCSHC Jean-Jacques Lataillade.
Production à grande échelle.
By combining speed, mobility and technological efficiency, the VeliPod innovation achieves a decisive purpose as part of a major commitment: the production of a large volume of bags. “In 48 hours, the VeliPod innovation can produce 24 pockets of plasma,â€announces MCSHC Jean-Jacques LATAILLADE. We must see in this innovation a product that would complement our current therapeutic arsenal to face a high intensity perspective but not a replacement product for Plyo ”.
Developments in progress.
The VeliPod must undergo a year of evaluations to measure its performance in the field. “We will also submit a file to the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products. If the results are conclusive, we are considering the acquisition of several pieces of equipment to consolidate production,”observe le médecin chef des services.Â
Testing the effectiveness of the innovation is already underway, and the inauguration of the VeliPod containers is planned in the coming months.
