Scrutinized private clinic pauses plasma collection across Canada

Health Canada says it gave a non-compliance rating to Grifols, a private clinic which has paused plasma collection across Canada. In this Friday, June 12, 2020 file photo, a doctor holds a bag of blood plasma donated at blood bank in La Paz, Bolivia. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

The private donation clinic Grifols has paused plasma collection in Canada in the months after two people who donated plasma at their Winnipeg clinics died.

Health Canada says its investigations found several compliance concerns, which led it to issue a notice of a non-compliance rating on Wednesday for Grifols’ Taylor Avenue site in Winnipeg.

The federal health department says those compliance concerns need to be addressed and it welcomes the operators’ decision to temporarily close its collection sites.

“Health Canada will continue to work collaboratively with Grifols to ensure these concerns are addressed before any plasma collection sites can be reopened,” Health Canada spokesperson Emilie Gauduchon-Campbell wrote in an emailed statement Thursday. 

Health Canada also says this will have no impact on the safety and security of Canada’s blood supply.

The for-profit company did not respond immediately to requests for comment but told the Globe and Mail it’s pausing plasma operations because of “unfounded attention” on its practices. 

Health Canada said in March that it would investigate the deaths of two people who donated plasma at two locations in Winnipeg run by Grifols.

It has said the deaths happened in October and January.

Grifols said in March that it had no reason to believe there was a correlation between the deaths and plasma donation. The company said it followed protocols in both cases and was conducting its own review in addition to supporting the government investigation. 

Noah Schulz, provincial director of the Manitoba Health Coalition, opposes Grifols for-profit plasm collection model and hopes the company shuts down its operations. 

“While it’s just a pause, I still think it’s a really big win for patient safety, for the blood supply safety,” he said.

“This is about making sure that the blood supply is safe and that people are not exploited in vulnerable health and economic circumstances to donate to Grifols,” said Schulz.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 13, 2026.

The Canadian Press