Plasma donors are vital to saving lives

Thank you for the recent coverage on a critically important topic — blood plasma donation (May 12, “Blood Money”).

The growth in the plasma industry is driven by one simple fact — therapies derived from plasma save lives. People with a wide variety of medical conditions (including some forms of primary immunodeficiency diseases, which I have lived with for the past 40+ years) rely on these therapies to stay healthy and alive.

One significant issue not included in the article is the fact that American veins supply more than 70% of the source plasma used each year around the world. The problem is, this trend is not sustainable.

Global demand continues to accelerate, and donations are not keeping pace. We are one plasma-based product recall or another major interruption in production away from a fullblown crisis.

The challenges facing the global plasma market cannot be solved by voluntary donations, and the U.S. cannot continue to do it alone.

Interestingly, countries like Great Britain and Canada that do not allow plasma donors to be compensated have no problem importing products that are made from plasma from paid donors in the U.S.

Those nations that have the capacity to reduce their reliance on U.S. plasma need to enact policies to allow payment to plasma donors for their time and raise awareness of the need for more lifesaving donations.

In addition, the stigmatizing of plasma donors needs to end and we need to celebrate them as the heroes and public servants that they are, saving millions of lives each year.

JOHN G. BOYLE President & CEO of the Immune Deficiency Foundation

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