Marilena Vrana: Putting Faces to the Chain – Donors and Patients Connect in Milan for IPAW 2026
Marilena Vrana, Vice President at the Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association (PPTA) Europe, shared on LinkedIn:
“Some conversations stay with you. Moderating a donor-patient panel in Milan last Saturday was one of them, and a fitting way to close International Plasma Awareness Week (IPAW) 2026.
At the GBS|CIDP Foundation International European Regional Conference, plasma donors Pauline Meßner and Michell Solangel Morales met patients Flore La Tour and Ivan Kostadinović.
For many attendees, it was the first time meeting someone on the other side of the plasma journey.
Rarely does a discussion carry this much emotion.
Donors heard what their gift means.
Patients had their chance to say thank you.
The audience joined in, when Marian Ciopec of EPODIN .
Stood up to thank the donors for their beautiful gesture.
Every plasma-derived medicine begins with a donor and ends with a patient. In Milan, that chain had faces, names and stories.
When asked how we can strengthen plasma collection in Europe, I shared four priorities:
- Raise awareness! Many people still don’t know what plasma donation is.
- Make collection systems more efficient: learn from models that work and draw on the capabilities of all actors.
- Look closely at what national rules allow, and what they don’t.
- Listen and collaborate! We talk a lot about self-sufficiency, but strategies only work when they are built with patients and healthcare professionals who know the real needs, and with solidarity across Europe.
Thank you to Pauline, Michelle, Flore and Ivan for their openness and courage, and for making this such a meaningful conversation.
Milan showed what becomes possible when donors and patients meet.
We need more of these exchanges, and we need to bring what they teach us into policy.
Better plasma policies start by listening to the people at both ends of the chain.”
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