After 2 Donor Deaths, Plasma Company Stops Work in Canada

A company that pays people for their blood plasma has stopped working in Canada for now. The company, called Grifols, made this decision after two donors died at one of its clinics in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The deaths happened last October and in January. Grifols runs 17 clinics across Canada and is the only for-profit plasma collection business in the country.

Canada's health regulator, politicians, and the public started asking serious questions about Grifols after the two deaths. Health Canada, a federal government department, sent the company a notice saying it had failed to meet safety rules at its Winnipeg clinic. That notice was sent on the same day Grifols told Health Canada it was pausing its work — a Wednesday. The pause officially began the following Friday.

Grifols called the attention it was getting 'unfounded,' which means it believed the concerns were not based on solid evidence. In a written statement, the company said it was 'proactively and voluntarily' choosing to stop collecting plasma for now. However, government officials disagreed and said there were real safety problems. A spokeswoman for Canada's health minister said regulators found 'several compliance concerns,' meaning the company was not following important rules.

One of the donors who died was Rodiyat Alabede, a 22-year-old international student studying to become a social worker. She became unresponsive — meaning she stopped responding — during her plasma donation in October and died shortly after. Her death was confirmed by Manitoba's coroner, the official who investigates unusual deaths. Grifols said in March that it did not think her death was connected to the plasma donation process, but her case drew a lot of public attention.

Blood plasma is the light yellow liquid part of blood. When a person donates plasma, their blood is drawn out, the plasma is separated from the red blood cells, and then the red blood cells are put back into the donor's body. Because of this process, people can donate plasma more often than regular blood. Plasma is used to make treatments for rare diseases and long-term illnesses, and more and more of it is needed around the world.

Grifols has been running its clinics in Canada since 2022. It made a deal with Canadian Blood Services, a nonprofit group that manages Canada's blood supply, to collect more plasma for the country. Donors can earn around 100 Canadian dollars — about $72 U.S. — per week. The company advertises that donors can make up to 6,000 Canadian dollars, or about $4,400 U.S., in a year. Some people depend on this extra money to help pay for things they need.

Grifols said it plans to restart its Canadian clinics once it works out a plan with Health Canada and Canadian Blood Services. The company wants to create what it called a 'sustainable and robust plasma collection network,' meaning a system that is strong and can keep running safely over time. Grifols operates about 400 plasma clinics around the world, so Canada is just one part of its global business. It is not yet clear when the clinics will reopen.