Cambridge, Ont. clinic paying for plasma
A Cambridge, Ont. clinic says it will be offering honorariums to blood donors. CTV's Krista Simpson explains why.
Canadians are not paid to donate blood, but a new clinic coming to Cambridge, Ont. will offer honorariums to people who donate a portion of it.
A new plasma collection centre will soon open in a complex on Hespeler Road.
It's all part of a plan by Canadian Blood Services to increase the number plasma donations, which they say are insufficient to meet the growing need.'
Plasma is the component of blood that looks kind of yellow or straw-coloured,' explained Dr. Donald Arnold, a transfusion medicine specialist who is also a professor at McMaster University and director of the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Transfusion Research.
It also contains proteins, like antibodies. Plasma is used for transfusions, or to make products like immunoglobulins, that people with certain immune deficiencies may need administered regularly.
'It's a maintenance that a lot of these patients require lifelong. It's almost like someone with diabetes needing insulin because they just don't have enough,' explained Arnold. 'These patients are the same. They really don't have enough antibodies, so they need them to protect them against infections.'
Canadian Blood Services has its own plasma donation centres which do not pay donors, but the one in Cambridge will be operated by a global healthcare company called Grifols.
Donors at Grifols clinics can be paid up to $100 per donation, according to the company's website.
Canadian Blood Services and Grifols both declined interviews with CTV News, but did provided a statement with more information.
'In September 2022, Canadian Blood Services announced our action plan in response to a global shortage of immunoglobulins, which are lifesaving medicines made from human plasma, a component of blood. Our plan involves Canadian Blood Services collecting significantly more plasma and Grifols collecting plasma in Canada to manufacture immunoglobulins on our behalf, and exclusively for Canadian patients.'
The statement from Grifols said: 'Grifols collects plasma on behalf of Canadian Blood Services to help meet the growing need for immunoglobulins. The plasma we collect in Cambridge will be used to produce lifesaving immunoglobulin medicines for patients in Canada as part of our efforts to support Canada's immunoglobulin self-sufficiency.'
After donating, the plasma separated out and the rest of the blood is returned to the donor.
'That's something that can be done even more frequently than a regular blood donation, because it doesn't cause iron loss or it doesn't cause your red blood cells to be too low, and your body's pretty good at regenerating those proteins,' Arnold explained.
The Cambridge clinic will be Grifols' fifteenth location across Canada, with two more scheduled to open in Ontario later this summer.
Canadian Blood Services said it has a provincial exemption that allows Grifols, as its agent, to offer honorariums to donors.
Still, the pay for plasma model – and the departure from the Canadian norm that donors are not paid – has raised some questions and ethical concerns.
Christopher Lowry, an associate professor of philosophy at University of Waterloo, said donating without expectation of payment is the 'gold standard,' but given the circumstances, paying Canadians for their plasma seems like the next best option.
'Canadian Blood Services should do everything it can to increase voluntary donations,' Lowry said. 'But if the Canadian health care system needs to use paid plasma, then I think it's better if the paid donors are here because we can be responsible for using ethical standards to regulate it.'
Lowry noted that strong standards around consent are particularly important in these cases.
'For example, those regulations should at least make sure there is informed consent before the procedure every time they donate, and that the donors know that they have the right to stop in the middle of they change their mind.'
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