Vaughan Gething MS, Minister for Health and Social Services
This was published under the 2016 to 2021 administration of the Welsh Government
I am pleased to inform members that today following a review by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), and subsequent advice from the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) UK Health Ministers have given approval to lift the current ban on the fractionation of UK plasma for the use in plasma derived medicinal products (PDMP).
In 1999, in response to the emergence of the vCJD epidemic in the UK, believed to be associated with the consumption of meat products from BSE-affected cattle, the UK Government introduced a ban on the use of UK human blood plasma for the manufacture of all plasma-derived medicinal products.
We have further agreed to an inclusion of a condition in the new authorisations granted to blood establishments by the MHRA that plasma collected should be used for the benefit of UK residents, at least until domestic demand is met.