The need to increase supply of blood products such as plasma has been brought to the forefront in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, both as a potential therapy to the Sars-CoV-2 virus and to enable continuous supply of plasma-derived medicinal products (PDMPs). The European Blood Alliance (EBA) published a press release on 30 October stating that not-for-profit European blood establishments are committed to increasing plasma collection in the EU.
EBA comments that COVID-19 has impacted blood and blood component donation through measures that limit the physical access to donation centres and even mobile collections. There has also been an increased need for plasma donations, but the European Union has been recognised to lack self-sufficiency in this regard. Therefore, to bridge this gap, not-for-profit blood establishments which are members of EBA are taking a series of measures, from setting up specific plasmapheresis programmes, to increasing collection capacity, as well as best practice sharing and reducing wastage of recovered plasma.
EBA mentions that many European countries have a dual system where commercial operators also collect plasma and offer payment to plasma donors, which in their view jeopardizes the community-based voluntary donations. The EBA thus calls on Members States to “encourage and provide support to their Blood Establishments to develop efficient plasma collection programmes within the framework of voluntary non-remunerated blood donation”. For this purpose, they state that plasma collection by not-for-profit blood establishments should be recognised by the EU as a strategic goal that needs public intervention.
EBA and its members stated they are dedicated to work towards matching the supply and demand in plasma in order to best serve the needs of European patients.
You can access the press release through this link.