FDA approves blood typing tests

WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has licensed 14 new tests for determining a person's blood type.

"These 14 new tests will provide blood establishments and transfusion services with additional choices to help assure safe, well-matched transfusions," said Dr. Jesse Goodman, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. "The tests offer a broader diversity of reliable blood-typing tests and will help protect against product shortages."

Knowing the blood types for blood donors and patients is critical since patients might experience serious life-threatening reactions from mismatched transfused blood.

The OLYMPUS PK System Blood Group and Phenotyping Reagents use monoclonal antibodies to test for the A, B, O, and Rh factors, as well as for other factors that signify a rarer blood type, the FDA said.

The tests are manufactured by DIAGAST of Loos Cedex, France.