In my view

Edwin J Cohn A brilliant chemist dressed in a three- piece suit who saved the lives of many persons. A person who, in my view, should have been awarded a Nobel Prize. Cohn became famous for his work on the fractionation of plasma during World War II. He developed the techniques for isolating the human serum albumin fraction out of plasma. Albumin is essential for maintaining osmotic pressur…

Stkhldr mtg On October 28, 2019 the European Commission organized a stakeholders meeting to discuss issues related to the potential revision of the European Blood Directive. One of the key messages was that Europe needs to do more when it comes to plasma collection. In that context it is interesting to see what some of the arguments were from representatives from the public sector. The priva…

Memories of Shinji Wada Last week I read the terrible news about many lives being taken after the horrible tornado Hagibis in Japan. That was the moment that I started to think about a very good friend, Shinji Wada who unfortunately passed away almost a year ago. I turned on my tablet and listened to Shinji singing a Beatles song (Twist and Shout) at one of the company gatherings. I had bitter…

Forgiveness is a virtue This week we have seen an extraordinary example of forgiveness. Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was convicted of murder of Botham Jean and sentenced to 10 years in prison. His 18 years old brother Brandt gave one of the most impressive victim statements I have ever seen. He stated: “I forgive you. I don’t even want you to go to jail. I want the best for you. Because I…

Differentiation is more than a word On a regular basis we see and hear comments about cost saving measures for pharmaceuticals. Too often is the plasma protein sector immediately drawn into this debate because many persons do not understand why this sector is so different from what we call traditional pharmaceuticals. Plasma protein therapies (PPT’s) are used by persons with rare diseases. To…