Strengthening voluntary non-remunerated plasma collection capacity in Europe

The Covid-19 crisis has shown how vulnerable the world is in supply of life-saving medicines. Plasma-derived medicines, particularly immunoglobulins, Today face shortages in Europe. Simultaneously, there is an imbalance in the global collection of plasma needed for the products, with a high dependence of plasma coming from the U.S. The SUPPLY project therefore aims to increase and strengthen the resilience of plasma collection in the EU to enable a stable and adequate supply of medicines in Europe. A substantial part of plasma collection in the EU is conducted by the non-profit blood establishments (BEs) from voluntary non-remunerated donors, but not at the level needed. This project will focus on how BEs can improve and build up voluntary non-renumerated plasma collection programs and make them more efficient. Emphasis will be paid to maintaining donor safety in a way that benefits donor health and plasma quality intended for production of medicinal products. The project will evaluate current legal frameworks and policies in the EU on plasma collection and tender models to facilitate this process. Since plasma demand comes from the use of immunoglobulins, it is vital that its use is appropriate and prioritisation is properly guided. The SUPPLY project, led by the European Blood Alliance, will be carried out by a large European consortium with broad and complementary expertise relating to all aspects in blood and plasma collection, processing and medicinal use. The main project outcome is a set of recommendations and guidance for BEs, competent authorities, medical societies and other professional stakeholders to support them in being able to increase plasma collection in the EU by the public health sector and achieve optimal availability of plasma medicines for patients both in a general situation as well as in times of crises. This project will therefore contribute to the EU becoming more strategically independent in its need for plasma medicines.