NHS plea for donations of 'liquid gold' blood plasma to beat disease

THE NHS is urging more people to donate “liquid gold”, as Britain ramps up production of plasma for lifesaving medicines.

- By Hanna Geissler Health Editor

Plasma makes up 55% of blood and carries red cells, white cells, platelets and key proteins around the body. Antibodies found in plasma can be made into medicines for people with rare diseases.

Use of UK donor plasma to make medicines was banned in 1998 as a precaution against variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, linked to mad cow disease.

For more than two decades, the NHS relied on overseas imports including immunoglobulins, which can strengthen the immune systems of people with rare diseases.

The ban was finally lifted five years ago and patients began receiving medicines made from UK plasma again in March.

As the health service scales up domestic supplies, the Express visited a processing centre in North London where staff work night and day to separate whole blood donations into components.

Jan Majkowski, a boss at NHS Blood and Transplant's Colindale site, said spare plasma previously had to be incinerated.

He said: "In the past, we could produce red cells and platelets but couldn’t use the plasma for medicines — that was heartbreaking. Now, we don’t have to incinerate them and all is being used."

Donated plasma is used in hospitals to stop bleeding from trauma or surgery, or to manufacture drugs such as immunoglobulins.