Government removes ban on UK-sourced blood plasma for the manufacture of immunoglobulins.
- Thousands of NHS patients to benefit from innovative medicines made from plasma
- Decision follows recommendation from expert scientists that the treatments are safe
Thousands more critically-ill patients will soon be able to benefit from life-saving treatments made from UK-sourced blood plasma, as the government lifts a decades-old ban on donations of plasma in the UK being used to manufacture some medicines.
The medicines, known as immunoglobulins, are manufactured from blood plasma donated by the public and are used to treat several serious diseases and conditions, such as for those with severely reduced immune systems due to long-term cancer treatment or people with antibody deficiencies.
By lifting the ban in England, the government can start to use plasma donations from UK blood donors to manufacture these life-saving medicines for NHS patients.
The ban was introduced in 1998 in response to concerns over the spread of a human variant of BSE, known as ‘mad cow’s disease’, called Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease. Experts in medicine safety at the independent Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) have now advised the use of UK-sourced plasma to manufacture these treatments is safe and can recommence supported by a set of robust safety measures.
Read more by clicking this link:
Ban lifted to allow UK blood plasma to be used for life-saving treatements – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
