A chain of private plasma donation clinics in Canada has said it is pausing collections after the deaths of two donors and a new government investigation into potential unsafe practices.
Grifols, a Spanish healthcare company which runs ۱۷ clinics in Canada and is the country’s only private clinic for plasma donation, said it informed Health Canada of its decision to temporarily pause collections on Wednesday.
On the same day, the agency had issued a formal notice of non-compliance for failure to follow blood regulations, a senior official told the Globe and Mail newspaper.
The two deaths occurred after plasma donations in October ۲۰۲۵ and January ۲۰۲۶, Health Canada said in March of this year. The donors, both of whom were in the province of Manitoba, went into “distress” while donating, people familiar with the cases said.
Though Health Canada did not release the identities of the donors, friends said one was Rodiyat Alabede, ۲۲, an international student and aspiring social worker who donated plasma in Winnipeg on ۲۵ October.
Patient advocates reported at the end of May that there were concerns about whether Alabede had been properly screened.
“They had staff taking plasma from donors who did not know how to extract plasma in a safe manner,” alleged Kat Lanteigne, a safe blood campaigner who represents Alabede’s family.
“The [failures] were so egregious that … now we have more questions than answers,” she said in May.
An autopsy showed Alabede died of cardiac arrest shortly after donating. Health Canada reported that it found “no link” between Alabede’s death and plasma donation.
Patient advocates have called for a new inquest into her death, however, after alleging that “significant medical discrepancies” had been uncovered between her autopsy, which was completed two days after her death, and the medical summary drafted by Health Canada published on ۲۷ March of this year.
The Guardian has also seen Health Canada inspection reports from May that found deficiencies at Grifols clinics, including inadequate training for staff, failures in standard operating procedures, poor record-keeping and a failure by Grifols to remedy past issues.
The Health Canada report also found that staff did not stop plasma collection when alarms went off, and described the company’s reporting as “incomplete” and “inaccurate”.
Prior to the newly announced pause, donations were permitted at Grifols twice a week. The company paid donors up to C$۱۰۰ (£۵۵) for each donation.
Plasma is a pale yellow, protein-rich liquid in blood that assists in moving red and white blood cells, along with platelets, through blood vessels, according to Canadian Blood Services, the non-profit that operates Canada’s national blood supply.
Plasma also helps prevent excessive bleeding and is used to create medications for a variety of conditions including haemophilia, liver disease and various cancers.
The plasma donation process differs from donating blood overall. A medical device called an apheresis machine draws the blood, separates it into individual parts, collects the components needed and then returns the remaining blood back into the body, according to Canadian Blood Services. The process takes about ۹۰ minutes, whereas a general blood draw takes about ۱۰.
In Canada, provinces and territories decide whether paid plasma clinics are permitted. British Columbia and Quebec do not allow the practice, for example, but Manitoba, where the deaths occurred, does not prohibit companies from paying donors for plasma.
Grifols said it decided to pause collection “proactively and voluntarily” due to what it deemed “unfounded attention”. It said the pause would allow it to work with Health Canada and Canadian Blood Services.
The company has denied the two deaths were connected to plasma donation.
On Friday, Health Canada said it found “various deficiencies” specifically at the Taylor Avenue Grifols location in Winnipeg. A spokesperson for that location said it was working closely with the company so that it could return to operations.
“Canadians can be assured that this decision will have no impact on the safety and security of Canada’s blood and plasma supply,” Grifols said.
