Mexicans Can Cross U.S. Border to Get Paid for Plasma, Court Rules

The U.S. is one of the few countries that allow payments for plasma. Up to 10% of U.S. plasma collected nationwide comes from Mexican nationals, who get paid roughly $50 to donate. But last June, U.S. border officials indicated they would stop the roughly 30-year practice of allowing Mexicans visitors to get paid for plasma because they viewed it as labor for hire, which isn’t allowed under a visitor visa.

Affiliates of Australia-based

CSL Ltd.

and Spain-based

Grifols SA

sued to overturn the ban, which came just as U.S. plasma collections were disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Both companies have invested millions of dollars in collection centers near the U.S.-Mexican border.

The ban was criticized by Mexican donors, who said the new policy deprives them of income and pride they took in helping others, and patient-advocacy groups, who worried about the availability of plasma-derived medicines.

However, some doctors have raised concerns that high-frequency donation could have negative health effects, and others have questioned the ethics of paying poor people for plasma. Pharmaceutical companies say their supply base is diverse and that giving plasma is safe and closely regulated.

“We are excited to welcome back Mexican donors to our plasma collection centers and appreciate their vital contribution to the plasma supply,” CSL said after the judge’s ruling. “The decision recognizes the critical importance of the need for plasma in the manufacture of life-saving therapies for hundreds of thousands of people.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. In legal filings, the agency said pharmaceutical companies could increase payments to attract more collections from U.S. citizens domestically, and that Mexicans could still donate plasma without getting paid. It said after the pandemic began, it learned its field offices were taking inconsistent positions on whether to allow Mexicans with visitor visas to enter the U.S. to make paid plasma donations, and that it issued the ban to provide clarity.

In the ruling, Judge Tanya S. Chutkan agreed with the pharmaceutical companies that the border agency’s policy shift seemed arbitrary and that the agency didn’t appear to provide a notice and comment period. She also supported the companies’ argument that there would be significant harm if the ban weren’t lifted while the case proceeds.

“Plaintiffs’ point that constraining the supply of blood plasma at a time when national public health—and the supply chains that undergird it—is particularly imperiled is a compelling one,” she wrote.

Immunoglobulin, which are antibodies found in plasma, are used to treat rare neurological and autoimmune disorders. The market for plasma-derived therapies is lucrative for pharmaceutical companies, and demand has increased as its use has expanded to treat more conditions. Any dent in the supply of plasma—which takes months to be manufactured into finished product—could have a major impact on corporate revenues.

A combination of lockdowns, travel restrictions and donor fears about contracting Covid-19 at one point contributed to a roughly 20% drop in plasma collections. Stripping out the impact of currency fluctuations, CSL said net profit in the 2022 fiscal year, which ended in June, fell 6%, reflecting a slowdown in sales of immunoglobulin due to the collection issues. But CSL says that collections have increased and are now above prepandemic levels.

Write to Mike Cherney at [email protected]