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Coronavirus update


What is plasma used for?

The plasma you donate to us (NHS Blood and Transplant) is given to patients as a transfusion.

There are two very different treatment uses for plasma.

Plasma products

Around the world, plasma can be used to manufacture two different types of treatments:

  • blood components, which is done by us
  • plasma-derived medicinal products – these are medicines and are manufactured by pharmaceutical companies

What we make with your plasma

NHS Blood and Transplant uses plasma to make two blood components known as Fresh Frozen Plasma (FFP) and cryoprecipitate (cryo), which are given to patients as a transfusion.

This plasma is either separated out from donated whole blood or taken specifically as a plasma donation at our blood donor centres. Three bags of Fresh Frozen Plasma on ice

FFP and cryo are supplied to hospitals in the same way as other blood components, such as red blood cells and platelets.

FFP is typically used to help people’s blood clot after major blood loss, for example after a car crash. It can also be used for rare diseases and cases of liver failure.

Our donors are in the UK. They are unpaid blood, platelet and plasma donors, who are donating to help save the lives of other people.

More about plasma and how it helps people

Plasma for coronavirus research

At the moment we are also collecting convalescent plasma from people who have recovered from coronavirus.

Convalescent plasma is essentially a type of FFP which contains specific antibodies that can be used to help treat people with coronavirus. 

This convalescent plasma is provided as a blood component and is transfused to patients as part of clinical trials to improve the recovery of people with coronavirus.

Find out more about using plasma for coronavirus research

What pharmaceutical companies make with plasma

The medicinal products made from plasma by pharmaceutical companies do not use UK plasma.

This manufacturing (involving plasma fractionation) uses plasma from outside the UK.  

Plasma fractionation involves separating out proteins from very large pools of plasma donations. 

This is performed on an industrial scale by pharmaceutical companies to manufacture plasma-derived medicinal products.

These are provided in small doses and injected via a syringe, not transfused.

These companies do not work with NHS donors and donations.

Our history with Plasma Resources UK

Some confusion exists about plasma donations being used for profit. We do not sell your plasma or pay people to donate, and the donation process is not privatised or run for profit.

UK plasma cannot be used for fractionation due the risk of vCJD (variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease) and therefore the NHS imports plasma derived medicinal products from other countries.

After the decision was taken to stop using UK plasma for fractionation due to the risk of vCJD transmission, the UK Government created a company called Plasma Resources UK (PRUK). It had a branch in the USA and the Bio Products Lab in England.

The Bio Products Lab was part of NHS Blood and Transplant but is now separate. We do not collect plasma for fractionation.

PRUK imported plasma from the USA and manufactured fractionated plasma medicines for NHS patients.

In 2013, 80% of this company was sold to a company called Bain Capital. 

It has been wrongly suggested that the whole of the UK plasma supply had been sold. In fact, this relates only to fractionated plasma whereas NHS Blood and Transplant continues to collect plasma for profit-free patient transfusion.

Does anyone sell blood plasma?

In some other countries, plasma derived medicinal products are made from plasma donated by donors who are paid. These medicines can be imported to the UK.

It’s illegal to pay blood donors in the UK.

Does NHS Blood and Transplant sell plasma for profit?

No, NHS Blood and Transplant does not sell plasma for profit.

NHS organisations charge each other for the cost of services, on a cost recovery basis. For example, an NHS commissioning group might give an NHS hospital a fixed sum of money for a hip operation.

In the same way, NHS Blood and Transplant receives money for each unit of red cells, platelets and plasma that it supplies to hospitals. This money covers NHS Blood and Transplant’s costs.

Is NHS plasma donation privatised?

NHS plasma donation is not privatised. NHS Blood and Transplant is an NHS organisation. It is a Special Health Authority, reporting into the Department of Health and Social Care.

How can I help?

If you see people suggesting that ‘NHS blood donation has been privatised’ or similar claims please direct them to this page.

The confusion could put people off donating and we need people to keep donating and saving lives.