In my view

Several years ago PPTA organized the annual IPPC meeting in Dublin Ireland. During one of the coffee breaks I saw a colleague who had been active in the industry for many years, especially in the field of ant-D immunoglobulins. His name was Robert (Bob) Suarez. He was born in Cuba and fled to the United States in the early 60’s He was retired and it was a pleasure to see him again. We had a nice…

Scary As I am writing this I am in The Netherlands and see information about the liberation of Auschwitz, now 80 years ago. I was able to visit Auschwitz in 2008 and I paid my respect to the many victims of the Holocaust. I took  the to Oswiecim and was thinking about the many people that made this train ride and never came back. On television I saw many documentaries about the prosecution of J…

About 15 years ago that the owner of one of the manufacturers of plasma derived medicinal products wrote me a letter and asked me to personally close the plasma collection centers along the Mexican border in the USA. Mexican citizens who were in the possession of an US issued Visa, were able to cross the border and donate their plasma and received a compensation for it. The reasons for the letter…

For a little over 2 years, I am advising Biopharma Plasma, a company in Ukraine. The company has built a state if the art fractionation plant in Bila Tserkva, approximately 70 kilometers away from the capital Kyiv. In addition, the company has built a network of plasma collection centers and is demonstrating that it is possible to build a successful company if you have commitment and resources…

It is a while ago that I wrote a column and it time to start again. Last week I received the prestigious Otto Schwarz Award from the Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association (PPTA). This Award is given to individuals that have shown leadership in the plasma protein industry. Many times I was able to present this award to winners and now I was the recipient. It is a strange but pleasant feeling…