America: The human plasma factory

Journalist Kathleen McLaughlin needs $15,000-a-dose medication to treat her rare autoimmune condition. While she sits for hours at a time, just down the block is one of over 1000 commercial blood donation centres in the USA extracting plasma, which forms an essential part of her treatment.

Kathleen investigates the multibillion-dollar global plasma industry behind her life-enhancing medication. Through donor and patient testimonies, expert insights and personal experiences, she tries to make sense of the world’s reliance on one country’s blood, a reliance that only continues to grow.

Kathleen learns why people are resorting to plasma donation to stay out of debt, whether patients around the world have sufficient access to this medication, and why the burden of global production is rooted in the US.

Presenter: Kathleen McLaughlin
Producer: Hester Cant
Executive producer: Jane Long
A Hidden Flack production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Journalist Kathleen McLaughlin)