Blood may be thicker than water, but plasma pays better. Plasma centers, have made collection and sale of the syrupy-yellow liquid big business.

Talecris Biotherapeutics Inc., parent company of Talecris Plasma Resources, reported revenues exceeding $1.2 billion in 2007. Its first center in Toledo opened yesterday. Another local center run by Grifols Biomat USA draws sizable crowds.

Donors get paid, and many come back repeatedly.

Toledoan Adam Iler, 25, is a regular at Grifols plasma center at 3217 Dorr St. "It's easy money, and ain't nothing wrong with the place," he said. He makes $55 dollars a week by donating twice. When he goes twice every seven days - the maximum frequency - he can pick up $220 a month.

"I can't find a job out in Toledo. This pays the phone bills, feeds my little sister," he said. The donation process typically takes about 90 minutes.

On one recent morning, nearly 60 people - college students, unemployed, those simply seeking extra income - crowded into the center.

Talecris spokesman Annie Clifford said donations typically increase during economic slowdowns.

The new facility, she said, will employ 40 people who will be paid a total of $900,000 a year.

At the Talecris Testing Lab in Raleigh, N.C., nearly 10,000 sample units of plasma are screened each day for safety.

Any test indicating HIV, Hepatitis C and B, or any other contaminant virus will sound an alarm, and the sample's entire batch is discarded, the company said.

Uses for the plasma include several prescription drugs and therapies, such as anti-inflammatory medicine and a blood-clot inhibitor. The firm does not sell plasma to hospitals.

According to the Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association, an advocacy group in Annapolis, Md., more than 355 plasma collection centers operate nationwide. In 2007, an estimated 15 million donations were made. One year earlier, the industry netted more than 10 million liters of plasma.

Figures on nationwide revenue from plasma collection are not readily available.

Dr. Nurjehan Quraishy, medical director at the American Red Cross in Toledo, declined to comment on the pay-for-plasma industry.

Her organization collects 95,600 units of plasma each year, all of it donated for free by Toledo-area residents. It is allocated for use in blood transfusions, research, and pharmaceuticals.

- Ted Fackler

First Published May 21, 2008, 10:22 a.m.