Hamilton, Ont., has rebuked Canadian Blood Services and Spanish pharmaceutical company Grifols over their plans to set up for-profit blood-plasma collection in the city, a practice that some health advocates say incentivizes donor exploitation by increasing compensation based on frequency.
City council voted 15-0 on Wednesday to accept a recommendation from its public-health committee to declare the municipality a “paid-plasma free zone.”
Mayor Andrea Horwath had introduced the motion to oppose paid collection of plasma, a straw-coloured fluid found in blood that is used for transfusions and to manufacture some medicines. She said she opposes the practice because she is concerned about exploitation.
“I think that anything that preys upon folks in our community, who are the most vulnerable and the most in-need of resources, is untenable,” she said in an interview. “And it doesn’t belong in Hamilton.”
Grifols’s new centre in the city is one of 15 that it plans to operate in Canada as part of a controversial partnership with Canadian Blood Services to boost the collection of plasma.
As well, Ontario is one of three provinces that bans compensation for blood donations, but Grifols has received tacit permission from the province to operate based on its relationship with CBS.
CBS is a national charity founded on the principle of voluntary donation. It also runs 11 of its own plasma collection centres, and it says that, as part of its contract with Grifols, it has veto authority over where they set up shop.
The agency has said that working with Grifols is necessary to ensure domestic supply chains of plasma, especially to collect enough to make immunoglobulins.
Grifols’s compensation depends on the frequency and volume of donations. According to the “compensation and rewards plan” on the company’s website, a donor would receive $30 for a single donation of between 670 to 749 ml of plasma. That value could go up to $70 for a donation of more than 900 ml if done twice a week for at least five weeks, with an additional bonus of $100 available if 20 donations are made within a 12-week period.
A 2021 study by U.S. researchers found the typical plasma donor was younger than 35, had a low credit score and likely made less than US$20,000 a year. However, it also found those donors were less likely to take on payday loans.
Grifols and CBS did not indicate that Wednesday’s vote in Hamilton would change their plans.
In a statement, Grifols said it expects the centre in the city to open at the end of the year or early 2025.
CBS said in a statement that it evaluates whether to approve Grifols locations based on population size, proximity to post-secondary institutions and access to public transit.
CBS pointed to its website, where it says the agency is “not against paid donation,” and that “donors are valued for their generous commitment to supporting patients in need, and their health and well-being are paramount to the process.”
In 2022, when CBS debuted the deal with Grifols, it said it was part of a plan to ensure half of its plasma needs for immunoglobulins would be sourced in Canada, up from 15 per cent. The rest of the plasma needed for immunoglobins is collected from paid donors in other countries, especially the U.S.
Many patient groups, which typically receive some funding from pharmaceutical companies, have supported paid-plasma collection.
“Compensating plasma donors is an evidence-based solution to increase the amount of plasma collected in Canada to meet the needs of patients in Canada,” wrote Angela Diano, executive director of Alpha-1 Canada, in an e-mail.