Overview

This talk will describe blood plasma’s journey from donor to life-saving medicines, as well as a brief history of blood products as therapeutic treatments. BPL fractionates around 1.5 million litres of plasma annually with three production lines manufacturing these medicines, which are then supplied to patients in more than 50 countries around the world. The products fall broadly into three main therapy areas: immunology, critical care and coagulation disorders, each with their own carefully controlled manufacturing process.

A fractionation process separates the components of plasma and extracts proteins which are isolated, purified, concentrated, formulated and filled in Elstree. The presentation will include an illustration of each of these steps, outlining their place in the journey as well as briefly describing the conditions that the medicines can treat. As part of the immunology stream, the talk will also touch on efforts to produce a plasma-derived hyperimmune globulin therapy for COVID-19 and the current NHS campaign for UK plasma donors. 

Presenter

Simon Brock, Process Technology Manager, BPL Ltd

Simon has over 20 years chemical engineering experience under his belt, after graduating from Teesside University with a Bachelors in Engineering, followed by a PhD from Loughborough. In that time, he’s worked mainly in upstream oil & gas and nuclear decommissioning, with a bit of mining & minerals and some wastewater treatment on the side.

Simon is now working as a Process Technology Manager for Bio Products Laboratory (BPL) in Elstree, Hertfordshire, where he is currently tasked with improving yields and corralling production data for statistical quality control.

The material presented in this webinar has not been peer-reviewed. Any opinions are the presenter’s own and do not necessarily represent those of IChemE or the Milton Keynes Members Group. The information is given in good faith but without any liability on the part of IChemE.

Time 

18:30—19:30 GMT.

Software

The presentation will be delivered via GoToWebinar®. 
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You are advised to join the webinar at least ten minutes before the scheduled start time, to allow for your computer to connect.

Webinar archive

This webinar is free of charge and open to all to attend, but if you wish to access the slides and a recording to replay on demand then you'll need to be a member of the Milton Keynes Members Group.