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MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
Grifols donors in Canada and the U.S. can give plasma twice a week, every week, up to 104 times a year.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The two deaths occurred after people donated at separate Grifols sites in the city: 22-year-old Rodiyat Alabede on Oct. 25, 2025 at the company\u2019s Taylor Avenue location and an unidentified individual on Jan. 30 at its Innovation Drive centre. Health Canada has said no linkage has been established between their deaths and plasma donation.<\/p>\n
Also in Winnipeg, a third donor died in 2018 and a fourth individual is suing a plasma collection company, later acquired by Grifols, for a serious kidney injury he attributes to giving plasma, a claim the company denies.<\/p>\n
Grifols donors in Canada and the U.S. can give plasma twice a week, every week, up to 104 times a year. It\u2019s the highest number allowed anywhere in the world and roughly four times what\u2019s permitted in many European countries, where researchers say there is insufficient scientific evidence to definitively prove such high frequencies are safe.<\/p>\n
A 2023 survey <\/a>of 17 countries found the most common annual limit was 26 donations. The SUPPLY Project, a European Union-backed research initiative working to increase the EU\u2019s own supply of plasma, conducted the survey and has recommended a maximum of two donations a month<\/a>. The survey also found Canada allows the highest volume of plasma per donor annually, at 47 litres, while the most common limit was a third of that.<\/p>\n In a statement, Health Canada spokesperson Mark Johnson said the agency \u201ccontinuously monitors emerging evidence and is aware that some Canadian and international organizations and expert groups have proposed more conservative donation frequencies.\u201d He said the U.S. has allowed two donations per week since 1973, which \u201cmeans that this frequency of donation has been in use in the country with the largest annual plasma volume collection for almost 50 years without any donor safety signals being reported.\u201d<\/p>\n In an unattributed statement, Grifols said that \u201cdonor safety and well-being are central to Grifols\u2019 plasma collection operations and quality standards,\u201d adding that each year, over 16 million donations take place safely at its centres worldwide. Grifols also said they\u2019ve put in place \u201cinternal cross-check systems\u201d to ensure donors do not donate more frequently than is allowed.<\/p>\n Grifols has operated in Canada since 2022 and is now in six provinces. That came to a halt in mid-August, when the company opted to pause its collections in Canada, the same day Health Canada issued a formal notice of its non-compliance with federal blood regulations, as the Globe and Mail reported. Grifols has said its stoppage was a result of \u201cunfounded attention.\u201d<\/p>\n Grifols is a Spanish drug manufacturer that pioneered the practice of plasmapheresis in the 1950s. Plasma is a protein-rich component of blood, which when extracted, can be manufactured into medicines for rare disorders like hemophilia, as well as used in emergency rooms to treat severe burns.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Grifols has operated in Canada since 2022 and recently annouced it would pause plasma collection at all donation centres in the country.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Prior to the shutdown, the Free Press spoke with two dozen Grifols donors in an effort to learn more about their experiences. Of the group, 19 said they donated twice a week.<\/p>\n Most said they\u2019d had positive experiences, though several reported switching from the Taylor Avenue location to the Innovation Drive centre, citing long waits, high staff turnover and a perceived lack of staff professionalism at the former. (Grifols did not directly respond to a question about these comments.)<\/p>\n One donor also said that, after switching locations, he realized his initial medical screening was far more in-depth at the Innovation Drive centre near the University of Manitoba. He also said, given that his eligibility had to be newly assessed upon switching, it did not appear the two collection centres share a records system. Health Canada\u2019s spokesperson said all of Grifols\u2019 locations in Canada share a records system, except the Innovation Drive location.<\/p>\n One Winnipeg donor said he had been able to donate more than twice that week without being stopped, completing his third donation just before speaking to a reporter. A handful said they\u2019d tried to donate more than twice a week but were turned away by Grifols staff.<\/p>\n Several donors also said they\u2019d been rejected periodically due to low protein or iron readings. One donor said he did not receive an email with a low protein warning \u2014 which included direction to stop donating for two weeks \u2014 until two weeks after the test. He\u2019d continued to donate throughout that time period.<\/p>\n Grifols incentivizes donors to keep up a twice-weekly schedule. The first payment is $50 and the second is $70, which works out to $480 a month or $6,240 a year. Those payments are only for donors who visit twice weekly for five consecutive weeks, receiving \u201cgold\u201d status; those who visit less frequently are paid less.<\/p>\n There are additional financial rewards: every 10th donation within a six-week time period comes with a $50 bonus; there\u2019s a $100 bonus for donating 100 times in one year; and there\u2019s a bonus for donating near one\u2019s birthday or the anniversary of their first visit.<\/p>\n Health Canada has identified a number of deficiencies at Grifols\u2019 head office and collections centres around the country, including inadequate training at Winnipeg\u2019s Taylor Avenue location, where staff could fail and re-take quizzes four times before followup was required. In March, Health Canada issued a non-compliant rating to Grifols\u2019 head office, citing \u201crecurring, systemic deficiencies across several sites.\u201d<\/p>\n The regulator also noted that the Taylor Avenue location had already failed to make required changes after a serious adverse reaction in 2023, saying \u201ctraining of staff and method of training was not adequate as staff continue to repeat errors.\u201d With 22-year-old Alabede\u2019s donation, the federal regulator found the plasmapheresis machine extracting her plasma had showed an alert that should have prompted staff to terminate the donation, which they failed to do.<\/p>\n These issues culminated in a non-compliant rating for the Taylor Avenue location in June.<\/p>\n Grifols secured a 15-year deal with Canadian Blood Services in 2022 to supply the national blood authority with plasma-derived immunoglobulin medicines, sourced from Canadian donations. Earlier that year, it had acquired Prometic Plasma Resources Inc.\u2019s collection centre on Innovation Drive. In late 2025, Grifols acquired 50.1 per cent of Canadian Plasma Resources Corporation, which owned the centre on Taylor Avenue, according to the company\u2019s 2025 annual financial report.<\/p>\n In 2019, Canadian Plasma Resources was granted approval from Health Canada for donors to provide plasma twice a week, leading its CEO to tell a business magazine at the time that this \u201ceffectively removes the last regulatory advantage U.S. collectors had over CPR.\u201d<\/p>\n In a federal committee hearing in March, Mary Hughes, the vice-president of sales and commercial operations of Grifols Canada, was asked why Health Canada allows Grifols to extract plasma from donors twice as often as Canadian Blood Services.<\/p>\n Hughes deflected the question, but when pressed by Manitoba Conservative MP Dan Mazier (Riding Mountain), she replied simply: \u201cI cannot comment on CBS\u2019s plasma operations.\u201d<\/p>\n Hans Van Remoortel, who co-ordinates research for the Belgian Red Cross\u2019s Centre for Evidence-Based Practice, told the Free Press there\u2019s a lack of research examining the health consequences of high frequency plasma donation in the long term. A recent systematic review by the centre informed the SUPPLY Project\u2019s recommendation to limit donations to twice per month.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s taking into account a precautionary principle, which states that in the absence of solid scientific evidence, we need a safety margin,\u201d Van Remoortel said.<\/p>\n Van Remoortel, along with other Belgian colleagues, also worked on a randomized controlled trial <\/a>to look at plasma donor frequency: they found that in the majority of twice-per-week donors, their immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels dropped below the lower limit of normal, referring to the proteins in blood that provide immune support.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re talking about a two times per week frequency, if your statement is \u2018it\u2019s safe,\u2019 well my reaction would be, \u2018show me the evidence.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re talking about a two times per week frequency, if your statement is \u2018it\u2019s safe,\u2019 well my reaction would be, \u2018show me the evidence.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n A second randomized controlled trial<\/a>, led by Norwegian researchers in 2025, found similar conclusions: that high-frequency donation \u201csubstantially reduces\u201d both a donor\u2019s total serum protein and IgG levels.<\/p>\n Morten Haugen, that study\u2019s lead author, who is a medical doctor and PhD candidate studying donor health and plasma donation frequency at the University of Oslo, said while it\u2019s clear high-frequency donation causes drops in protein levels, the effects on a person\u2019s health are not yet known.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t actually know the consequences of having these low protein levels and the IgG levels, but they are so substantial that it\u2019s hard to think that it won\u2019t have any consequences over a long time,\u201d Haugen told the Free Press.<\/p>\n Like Van Remoortel, he called for long-term research on donors\u2019 clinical outcomes, such as risk of infection due to low immunoglobulins.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a really complex issue, because it\u2019s politics and governmental systems and science and health issues \u2014 it\u2019s so big because we also need medication for patients,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u2014 With files from Malak Abas<\/p>\n marsha.mcleod@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Marsha McLeod Marsha McLeod is an investigative reporter at the Free Press. She joined the\u00a0Free Press in 2023. Read more about Marsha<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Marsha produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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