GTC Biotherapeutics (fka GTCB)

[Lewis R Goudy]

Right, that's pretty much what I said, the plasma stuff
is very dubious as a major sink for investment capital
but the rest is clueful. They have a good track record
and if they wanted to hedge the fractionation business
(which notably mentioned work for others) with
some goats that would be fine with me.

I assume you saw my BV post about Talecris. I'm not
calling them a short, just wondering why such an otherwise
attractive company is throwing a lot of money at plasma
products at this (late) stage. There may be some cultural
bias here--life is cheaper there than it is here and the
risks associated with pooled plasma may count for less in
their intended markets. That's harsh but there is no
pretending that China is as fastidious as the west in
this connection. By the same token I think flo has a point
in his caricature: not all plasma pools are the same and
well-identified epidemiological metrics, eg frequency of
amphetamine abuse, suggest that east Asian plasma is even
more problematic than US/EU material. (Japan of course
has to be understood as an exception to the foregoing,
not to mention Australia and New Zealand.) Given that
the US and the EU are more than reluctant to engage in
free trade in blood products it's hard to see the markets
losing their atomized character except on a very local
scale.

Interestingly this differentiation between regional plasma
characters extends beyond risk:

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Plasma-derived immunoglobulin products from subjects in the United States contain antibodies against West Nile Virus (WNV) that may reach clinically effective levels. That is not the case for products made from European Union plasma, Austrian researchers report in the August 1st issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

Dr. Thomas B. Kreil and colleagues at Baxter Bioscience, Vienna note that as many as 2.5 million Americans may have been infected by WNV between 1999 and 2006. There is thus an increasing prevalence of WNV antibodies in US plasma and in intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) products.

The researchers conducted WNV neutralization assays using IVIG from both sources. EU-derived products showed no neutralization effect, and the average neutralization titer was 0.1, while US products showed an average neutralization titer of 1.4.

http://www.contemporarydentalassisting.com/reuters_article.asp?id=20070828clin012.html