Improving access to safe blood products through local production and technology transfer in blood establishments - 2015

Overview

The major objective of this initiative is to conserve human plasma that is currently discarded in many parts of the world and to improve access to essential medicines for people in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Recognition that human plasma is an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) for preparing essential medicines and that many nations are unable to supply essential medicines prepared from plasma is critical to this objective. Recovering this plasma and transforming it into essential medicines would meet a major unmet health need. Two other objectives will be achieved if currently discarded plasma can be brought up to the world standard for fractionation into essential medicines:

1. Upgrading blood establishments to manufacture fractionation-grade plasma will also improve their capability to provide all blood components of higher quality and safety; and
2. Upgrading blood establishments to the status of good manufacturing practices (GMP) compliance in the collection of plasma will help avoid the ‘tainted blood’ tragedies of the 1980s that transpired when virus-contaminated blood was transfused and/or used as starting material for plasma products.