Biopharmaceutical company Biopharma (Kyiv) has collected COVID-19 plasma for the production of the first batch of hyperimmune immunoglobulin, President of the company Kostiantyn Yefymenko has said.
Biopharma has collected 2,200 liters of COVID-19 plasma. For the first loading of the fractionator, 1,800 liters are needed, we have an even larger volume,” he told reporters during a visit to the company’s plasma center in Kyiv on Tuesday, November 24.
Yefymenko said that the company plans to carry out the first load of the fractionator next week to produce the first batch of hyperimmune immunoglobulin from the plasma of people who have had COVID-19.
According to Yefymenko, it takes eight or nine days to produce the drug.
The company started collecting COVID-19 plasma in May, but the collection process was slow at that time as the number of people who had COVID-19 was small.
“Now the speed of plasma collection has increased,” Yefymenko said.
He reported that the cost of one bottle of the drug can reach UAH 10,000, three or four bottles could be needed for treatment.
The production of one bottle requires about 2.5 liters of plasma. During one donation, a donor can donate up to 800 milliliters of plasma.
Biopharma is a Ukrainian biotechnology company, the only plant in Eastern Europe that has modern technologies, has been producing and developing drugs from donor plasma for almost 50 years.
The company is focused on providing medicines to Ukraine and on a contract basis, supplies its products to more than 30 countries around the world. In the fall of 2019, Biopharma moved its production to a new research and production complex in Bila Tserkva.
The company is developing a network of its own plasma centers. Now they work in Sumy, Shostka, Konotop, Cherkasy, Dnipro and Kharkiv.
