CSL blood supply contract renewed

The Federal government has renewed its contract with CSL to supply blood to blood banks and pathology labs for use in diagnostic procedures.

"Our existing agreement was due to expire and has been renewed for two more years," said CSL company secretary Peter Turvey.

He said that CSL has held the contract for 10 years. It was not considered to be a big contract for the company, but was important to the labs that relied on a consistent supply of red blood cells for diagnostic procedures.

The contract is believed to be worth about $5 million in revenues for CSL.

The renewal came as Federal Health and Aging Minister Senator Kay Patterson, announced the establishment of a committee to review the blood and blood products sector.

Turvey said that CSL was not concerned at all about the sector review.

Salomon Smith Barney analyst Rosemary Cummins said that the renewal of the contract was an indicator of government sentiment. She said that some analysts expected that the contract renewal might have been for a shorter period.