An unlikely transpacific trade in human blood plasma products is flourishing between the US and China, where a spate of liver diseases has driven up demand for a protein contained within the vital fluid.
Chinese patients last year consumed about 300 tonnes of serum albumin — the main protein component in human plasma — roughly half of the global total, according to analysts. About 60 per cent of that was imported, and demand is growing at 15 per cent annually.
Naturally produced by the liver, the protein can be harvested by “fractionation” of donated plasma, the liquid part of human blood. Donors in the US are typically paid a fee.
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