American Blood Gives a Boost to Asia’s Most Valuable Drugmaker
- CSL aims to open 30 more U.S. blood plasma centers next year
- U.S. is company’s main donor base for plasma collection
This article is for subscribers only.
Twice a week, thousands of people across the U.S. roll up their sleeves and give almost a liter of their blood plasma -- which will eventually be made into dozens of pharmaceutical products.
Receiving about $50 for close to an hour of their time, they’re helping Australia’s CSL Ltd., which runs 150 U.S. collection centers that gather the straw-colored liquid, extracted from blood by machines hooked up to the person. Powered at least partly by such collection facilities, CSL has become the largest pharmaceutical company by market value in Asia Pacific, and one of the world’s biggest makers of plasma-based therapies.