What Is the Blood of a Poor Person Worth?

Desperate people can make $30 donating plasma, up to 104 times a year, in this $20 billion industry.

 My life depends on medicine made from plasma. The plasma shortage worries me

Because Ig is used to treat a variety of life-threatening conditions, the demand continues to grow. There is currently an acute shortage of Ig. People across the country are being forced to prolong the time between treatments, take reduced doses, or turn to less-effective treatments. This puts them in vulnerable positions, facing increased health risks, including pain, organ damage, and debilitating infections.

 Please don’t pay $8,000 for an infusion of young blood

There are so many better ways to spend your money.

 The FDA says buying young people’s blood won’t stop you from aging

“There is no proven clinical benefit of infusion of plasma from young donors to cure, mitigate, treat or prevent these conditions, and there are risks associated with the use of any plasma product,” the statement reads. “The reported uses of these products should not be assumed to be safe or effective. We strongly discourage consumers from pursuing this therapy outside of clinical trials under appropriate institutional review board and regulatory oversight.”

 Young Blood and Old Blood

Over the years, I’ve sporadically reported on the (rather contentious) field of aging and its biochemical implications. Many readers will recall the results of the past few years that claim that infusion of young-animal plasma into aged animals seems to have many beneficial effects. Of course, this field is well stocked with controversy.

What is Plasma?

Plasma is the often forgotten part of blood... Plasma is the largest part of your blood. It, makes up more than half (about 55%) of its overall content.

Blood vs. Plasma

Blood is the main bodily fluid and responsible for transporting important nutrients, oxygen, carbon dioxide and waste products to and away from the cells. Plasma is the yellow liquid component of blood and constitutes 55% of the total blood volume.

Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Injections

In recent years, doctors have learned that the body has the ability to heal itself. Platelet-rich plasma therapy is a form of regenerative medicine that can harness those abilities and amplify the natural growth factors your body uses to heal tissue.

The Young Blood Movement Is Basically Biotech’s Goop

... there’s been a lot of skepticism around the value of transfusing young people’s blood into the bodies of older people. And most of it’s valid. But, she writes, scientists are nonetheless narrowing in on why blood plasma, the yellowish soup leftover after the blood cells are removed, might have beneficial properties...

The Problem With The Plasma

In this excerpt from “Nine Pints,” Rose George explains how issues with the 1970s American plasma led to a contaminated supply.