Was just going through Craigslist, and saw the old "donate plasma for $$" post. I recall when my friend Will & I were doing it, the tech told him that they get something like $1000 PER DONATION! Yet, they only pay people, on average, $30! Yet more wonderful abuses of capitalism. Did a little research: nytimes/2009/12/06/business/06plasma.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 "...they have stirred debate in recent years because they illustrate the workings of the =$12 billion plasma products business,= a fast-growing industry that has depended on the blood of people hard up for cash. Based on typical industry yields and prevailing prices, it appears that a single plasma donation, for which a donor might be paid $30, results in pharmaceutical products worth at least $300." [10x profits] "...many of the countries that prohibit compensation do not collect enough plasma. So they rely on plasma or plasma products made from the blood of people who donate in the United States, which supplies more than half the world’s plasma." "One donor who switched, despite Mr. Klynstra’s pleading, was his sister-in-law, Tina Dykstra, a 52-year-old grandmother. She started selling plasma two years ago when income from her husband’s electrical contracting business in Grand Rapids began falling. She makes $50 a week. But bonus payments she once received for being a frequent donor have been eliminated. “Now, because it is so busy, they don’t have to give you incentives anymore,” Ms. Dykstra said." "... the star product is intravenous immune globulin, or IVIG, which is used to treat an estimated 35,000 Americans with immune deficiencies...IVIG can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year per patient. Clotting proteins for hemophiliacs can cost $100,000 to $350,000 a year. And many of the uses of IVIG are not approved by the F.D.A..."
Posted on: Fri, 13 Sep 2013 17:04:41 +0000