Blood is one of the most fundamental elements of human health, and even today is a strong part of our rituals and customs. One only has to look to that old adage, “blood is thicker than water,” to find it an inherent part of humanity. It symbolizes family, strength, and in certain religions brings worshippers closer to their God or Gods. Folklore and popular culture are permeated with reference to blood. It is nearly Halloween, and doubtless there will be many children trick or treating tomorrow night in the guise of Dracula, the most famous blood sucking vampire.

Yet, the importance of blood in a cultural mindset is not without justification. It acts as the body’s highway system. Blood delivers oxygen and nutrients to the rest of the body, and within it are components that act as police, preventing unwanted contagions from threatening the rest of the body. It is composed of three important components: plasma (straw colored medium for other components), red blood cells (oxygen deliver), and platelets (clotting). A fourth component, white blood cells, are important to the body’s immune system, but cannot be donated. This is important because blood is rarely given to a patient as a whole. When blood is traditionally collected, it is done in whole form.

The three main blood groups, ABO, were initially identified in 1901 by Austrian Karl Landsteiner. This definition was further refined in 1937 when Landsteiner, working with Alexander S. Wiener, identified the Rhesus factor, which is represented as a + or – in a person’s blood type. Today it is almost incomprehensible how much of a leap forward this was. Before the discovery of blood types, transfusions were so dangerous as to be illegal in most countries.

For much of the 20th Century, a donor would encounter: a vein opened and the blood dripping through tubing into a bag, which is then stored in a cooler for transport. For most people, this is the Victorian process encountered when donating blood. Haemonetics (NYSE: HAE) produces and develops products that are changing the way donating blood is accomplished.

Haemonetics, based in Braintree, Massachusetts, manufactures devices that can collect the three main components separately. Of the three, plasma has been the most lucrative for the company in terms of sales. As a method of ensuring recurring revenue from its devices and eliminating high capital costs, Haemonetics will often place its equipment at blood banks or other collection centers, and generate revenues off of disposable products utilized the devices. But the involvement of Haemonetics does not end once the blood is taken out of the arm.

The vertical integration across all facets of blood management is unique to Haemonetics. At the hospital, Haemonetics manufactures a wide variety of products that aid in putting blood back into patients. For instance, the company has a product called OrthoPAT, which takes blood lost during and after orthopedic surgeries, cleans it, and transfuses it back to the patient. This increases the availability of blood within a hospital, so that donor blood can be reserved for trauma and other high use needs.

In addition to blood collection and surgery product segments, Haemonetics produces software to help hospitals and blood banks manage their supplies, as well as tracking equipment. Haemonetics has made several acquisitions of companies that produce these ancillary products to the physical collection of blood. The company manufactures a product called eLynx, which reads a barcode on a unit of blood and can determine all of the pertinent data that the physician needs, in order to determine if the patient should be administered the unit. On the horizon, the company plans to introduce a new transport product, a combination server/refrigerator that regulates the temperature of the blood more effectively than a Styrofoam cooler and acts as a database for the devices at the blood bank wirelessly linked together.

Blood is so important to medicine, it is almost inconceivable that with all of the technological advancement we have seen in the 20th Century, there has been little progress since 1901. Other areas of medicine have advanced far beyond what Karl Landsteiner could have envisioned when he identified blood groups. While blood banks may not be the most glamorous area of healthcare, they are certainly important. Haemonetics has established a portfolio of products that capitalize on this lack of innovation.

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