World Premiere

The Armed Forces Blood Transfusion Center (CTSA) achieved a significant milestone by welcoming, on February 17, 2026, the first VeliPod prototype (developed by Velico Medical) to its facilities in Clamart. This innovation, designed to ensure rapid availability of vital blood products, enhances the CTSA’s ability to respond to the challenges of high intensity.

Hemorrhagic injury emerges as a major medical challenge in military medicine. It remains the leading cause of preventable and avoidable deaths on the battlefield. “The first half-hour is crucial in operational situations: a hemorrhagic injury must be managed within the first few minutes,” confirms the Senior Chief Medical Officer Jean-Jacques LATAILLADE, director of the CTSA.

Facing this emergency, the VeliPod innovation emerges as a major turning point in the world of blood transfusion. Senior Chief Medical Officer Jean-Jacques LATAILLADE highlights the key features of the innovation.

A New Disruptive Technology

Unlike the historical universal lyophilized plasma (PLYO) produced by the CTSA through a sublimation process (produced by cold), the VeliPod creates dry plasma using a desiccation process (drying by heat). “A different technology that time will allow us to assess,” adds the facility director.

The VeliPod system consists of two containers. One container contains a hot air sterilization device to dry the collected plasma. The second container contains two devices with distinct roles. “One machine separates water from plasma while another isolates the plasma inside a plastic kit,” summarizes the chief medical officer. The pouch is then sealed by welds and is ready for use and easy to store. This technological change aims to circumvent the environmental and technological complexity required for PLYO preparation.

Speed and Mobility

One of the major advantages of VeliPod lies in its speed of execution: producing a pouch takes less than an hour and rehydration only 3 minutes before transfusion to a hemorrhagic injury.

The VeliPod containers are also designed to meet the imperative of mobility imposed by new conflict scenarios. Unlike PLYO production, which is fixed, dry plasma via VeliPod is produced in two mobile containers, requiring only water and electricity supply. “The VeliPod allows manufacturing in a clean mobile environment, without the need for heavy clean room infrastructure,” explains Senior Chief Medical Officer Jean-Jacques Lataillade.

Large-Scale Production

By combining speed, mobility, and technological efficiency, the VeliPod innovation achieves a crucial objective in a major commitment: producing a large volume of pouches. “In 48 hours, the VeliPod innovation can produce 24 plasma pouches,” announces Senior Chief Medical Officer Jean-Jacques LATAILLADE. “This innovation should be seen as a complement to our current therapeutic arsenal to face high-intensity scenarios but not as a substitute for PLYO.”

Ongoing Developments

The VeliPod will 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 acquiring several equipment to mass-produce,” notes the chief medical officer.

Trials on the effectiveness of the innovation are already underway, and the inauguration of the VeliPod containers is scheduled in the coming months.