Donating blood is a charitable gesture that saves lives and conjures up images of Red Cross drives and good Samaritans doing their part. Selling plasma — the watery, yellowish protein component of blood — is something else entirely.
Plasma extraction is similar to donating blood, with the donor sitting in a chair for about an hour. After the procedure, donors are often very tired.“In the 1950s and 1960s, doctors began treating immunocompromised patients with injections of immune cells derived from the plasma.” Today those medicines help with cardiac surgeries, burn treatments and for infants with blood disorders — but from the beginning, the pharmaceutical industry has mined plasma, mostly from people with little choice.
That’s likely why over the course of her research, McLaughlin found plasma centers mostly in disadvantaged cities like Flint, Mich., where the dying automobile industry led to massive unemployment, and El Paso, Texas.
In my area in Kent Ohio a new donor will receive $800 the first month for 8 donations. Afterwards it’s around $450 a month. I donate because I can certainly use the extra tax free income and it does save lives. Many people would die without this much needed plasma.
“plasma sold for about $25 ends up being made into medicine which costs $10,000 for a six month supply… When the author shared the price discrepancy with a… donor, he could only laugh.” It takes 130 donations for a one-year supply, and average pay is about $50, not $25