How blood-plasma companies target the poorest Americans
By H. Luke Shaefer and Analidis Ochoa
15 March 2018(The Atlantic) – Medicaid, housing subsidies, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—these are some of the things that make up the backbone of the U.S.’s social safety net. And the federal government, guided by President Trump’s proposed budget for 2019, is seeking to make deep cuts to all three of them.Yet while this threatens the government’s social safety net, one of a different kind continues to expand. Americans are flooding into the country’s blood-plasma donation centers in greater numbers than ever before, seeking to make up for low wages or small benefits checks, or even as their only source of cash income during a spell of extreme poverty. Their blood plasma—which historically has been collected disproportionately in the country’s poorest communities—is fueling a multibillion-dollar worldwide industry.Blood plasma, being a vital component of certain medical treatments, is extremely valuable, and there’s not much standing in the way of American adults who want to make some money off of what’s in their veins—so long as they weigh more than 110 pounds and are in good health. A standard visit lasts 90 minutes and usually pays between $30 and $50. Unlike other countries that ban giving plasma more than once a week or limit the number of sales in a year out of concerns for donors’ health, the U.S. permits up to two plasma donations a week, every week.This can translate into a few hundred dollars a month—a significant sum to people who have few or no other sources of income. In 2015, one of us wrote an article for The Atlantic about people who sell their plasma to make ends meet, and other journalists have focused on them as well. But what’s gotten much less attention is the global, multibillion-dollar industry these donors are sustaining. It’s an industry that helps heal patients worldwide, but it’s also one that, to keep the blood flowing, depends on the existence of a large group of people desperate for cash.There is a thriving industry built on plasma because the substance has no substitute in medical treatments for certain rare conditions, such as antibody deficiencies and hemophilia. As one company explained in an annual report, plasma comes from “the perfect bioreactor developed over millions of years of evolution: the human body.” In addition, many treatments are so plasma-intensive that they collectively require millions of liters of it each year; a year’s worth of therapy for someone with hemophilia might require the yield of as many as 1,200 donations. So, not only is there no substitute for plasma, but enormous volumes of it are needed. On top of that, global demand for it has steadily risen as many countries’ populations age and need more treatments that require plasma.This all has been a boon for the industry. Over a decade, the number of donations—really, “sales” is a more accurate noun—in America tripled, from 12 million per year in 2006 to 38 million per year in 2016, according to the Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association, a trade group. The number of donation centers in the U.S. has more than doubled to meet demand, from fewer than 300 sites in 2005to over 600 today. Global sales jumped from $5 billion in 2000 to $20 billion in 2015, and are expected to keep growing at a rapid clip well into the next decade. [more]
