From the donor's chair, through fractionation, to the patient who depends on it — this is the chain plasma travels, made visible.
Plasma isn't one substance — it's a suspension of hundreds of proteins, each with its own job. Fractionation is the process of separating them out, protein by protein, so each can become its own therapy.
Whole blood is drawn and spun in a centrifuge; plasma is separated and the remaining cells are returned to the donor.
Donations are screened and combined into large pools, each tested for safety before processing begins.
A cold-ethanol process, refined since the 1940s, precipitates proteins out in stages based on solubility.
Chromatography and filtration isolate a single protein class — albumin, immunoglobulin, or clotting factors.
The purified protein is stabilized, dosed, and packaged into the therapy a patient ultimately receives.
Each protein fractionated from plasma treats a different category of patient — many with no alternative source of treatment.
Treat primary immunodeficiencies, certain autoimmune and neurological conditions — replacing antibodies a patient's body can't produce on its own.
Allow people with hemophilia and other bleeding disorders to stop or prevent bleeds, often self-administered at home.
Used in critical and trauma care, burn treatment, and liver disease to manage fluid balance and stabilize blood pressure.
Plasma manufacturing has historically been energy- and water-intensive — and manufacturers are now publishing real, verifiable progress against that. A few examples already in motion:
CSL's European manufacturing sites have run on 100% renewable purchased electricity since 2023, with its Australian sites following in 2025. Takeda's plasma-therapy facility in Lessines, Belgium now runs on renewable electricity it largely generates on-site through solar and geothermal systems.
That same Lessines facility already reclaims and reuses up to half of its wastewater, with a target of 90% reuse by 2027 — turning a historically heavy water draw into a largely circular system.
Grifols recycles and reuses more than 16,000 tons of process ethanol every year and was the first pharmaceutical company in the U.S. to earn Zero Waste to Landfill certification. Octapharma runs a similar program at its Austria, France, and Sweden sites, regenerating 80–85% of process ethanol for reuse. CSL has set a target to divert over 90% of manufacturing waste from landfill.
Takeda diverted more than 1.7 million pounds of plastic from landfill across two of its plasma sites in a single fiscal year, through a dedicated plastics-recycling investment.
Octapharma has shifted some freight from air to sea transport and uses biofuels in road transport where possible — part of a broader effort to cut emissions across its full value chain, not just its own facilities.
CSL: 42% cut to Scope 1–2 emissions by FY2030. Takeda: net-zero in its own operations by 2030, full value chain by 2040. Octapharma: 63% cut to Scope 1–3 emissions by 2035, with a long-term goal of 90% by 2050.
Octapharma's target stands out for scope — it's one of the few in the industry to set a public reduction goal covering its entire value chain, not just its own facilities, this early.
Plasma donation is one of the few acts of generosity you can repeat — safely, regularly, and with a measurable effect on someone else's life.
Find a center near youScreening & health questionnaire — first visit takes longer, about 2 hours.
Plasmapheresis: blood is drawn, plasma separated, cells and fluids returned to you.
Most donors can return as often as twice within a 7-day period, with a day in between.
Your plasma enters pooling and testing within days of donation.
Recent news and patient stories published directly by the companies that make these therapies possible.
Neil Gilson, an endurance swimmer from Devon, UK, shares the journey of his son Jack's PANDAS diagnosis — and how connecting with other families gave them the strength to advocate for awareness. Neil is now swimming Switzerland's largest lakes to fund research and raise understanding of PANS/PANDAS.
Read →Mark built a vineyard and winery by hand in northern Michigan — then suddenly lost all feeling in his body. Diagnosed with CIDP after knee surgery left him paralysed from the neck down, IVIg therapy gave him his life back. "For me, IVIg is a lifeline to the future."
Read →Kedrion convened physicians, patient advocates, and caregivers to raise awareness of Plasminogen Deficiency Type 1 — an ultra-rare condition affecting roughly 1.6 per million people, frequently misdiagnosed for years before the right treatment reaches a patient.
Read →QIVIGY, developed entirely in Kedrion's own research labs and manufactured across its U.S. and Italy network, is now available nationwide — expanding options for the estimated 500,000 Americans living with primary immunodeficiency disorders.
Read →Biotest's next-generation immunoglobulin therapy — already approved in Europe since 2022 — is now available to U.S. patients living with primary immunodeficiencies who depend on daily IG treatment.
Read →A BioLife team member reflects on the moment the urgency of plasma donation became personal — and the hundreds of thousands of patients whose treatments depend on it.
Read →Living with secondary immunodeficiency in Croatia, Magda found that immunoglobulin replacement therapy transformed her quality of life after years of frequent, debilitating respiratory infections.
Read →A 21-year-old student shares his journey living with a rare bleeding disorder and what a new therapy has meant for his daily life.
Read →Erika tells donors her mother Guadalupe's story — a mysterious illness, a long search for answers, and ultimately the plasma-derived therapy that gave her back her personality and hope.
Read →A Phase 2/3 trial showed monthly IVIG infusions significantly improved walking distance in post-polio syndrome patients — a condition for which no effective medication previously existed.
Read →CSL's Broadmeadows facility — processing over 10 million litres of plasma per year — was named 2025 Facility of the Year by the ISPE for its integration of robotics and automation.
Read →Nicol's visit to Octapharma's Springe facility put a face to the work. Thanks to subcutaneous immunoglobulin therapy she self-administers at home, she now goes to concerts and spends time freely with family.
Read →A landmark moment for UK plasma medicine — NHS patients are now receiving immunoglobulins and albumin manufactured from UK-donated plasma, through a programme in which Octapharma serves as sole fractionator.
Read →