Health, Medica (Farmindustria): ‘Now turn the spotlight on blood donation’

“Turning the spotlight on blood and plasma donation is of primary importance. And this year it is even more important to recover the decline of 2020. But we are sure that, thanks to the sensitivity of the Italians, we could start growing again in the collection of strategic resource for the country “. This is what Danilo Medica, president of the Hemoderivatives Group of Farmindustria, affirms, on the occasion of World Blood Donor Day 2021, whose global event established by the World Health Organization is hosted in Italy at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome. Today, June 14, the program includes, among other things, the inauguration of the virtual donors’ village. At 9 pm the Colosseum will be illuminated in red. The slogan chosen for the 2021 celebrations, ‘Give blood and keep the world beating’, is an appeal addressed in particular to young people. “The Covid-19 pandemic – underlines Medica – has in fact had a negative impact on plasma collection internationally and also in our country, highlighting the vulnerability of this sector. A phenomenon to be followed with great attention to ensure continuity in the supply of In Italy this collection – as part of the Self-Sufficiency Program – guarantees a good coverage of needs, which for some drugs reaches 70%. However, despite the generous commitment of many donors, the quantities are insufficient to produce all those necessary to the treatment of our patients. We are therefore dependent for a significant part on plasma collected abroad “. Plasma is a limited resource, because it cannot be synthesized in the laboratory – recalls the president of the Farmindustria Hemoderivatives Group – whose availability depends exclusively on voluntary donations. And starting from these it takes about 8-12 months to produce and distribute a plasma-derived drug “.” The drug companies that deal with the research, production and access of plasma-derived drugs – concludes Medica – are making great efforts to constantly improve their production technologies to maximize industrial yields, thus enhancing what is collected through donations, to make more products available for patients according to the highest quality standards. Companies that invest more than the manufacturing average and have a total of over 1,700 employees in Italy. And who are also engaged in clinical trials with targeted-action drugs against the Sars-CoV-2 virus derived from the plasma of patients recovered from Covid-19 and in the R&D of plasma-derived products to treat more and more diseases more effectively “.