Access and Rational use of Plasma Protein Therapies (PPTs)

Background to Plasma Protein Therapies (PPTs): Although the first PPTs were anti-toxins, raised in horses against pathogens (diphtheria, tetanus) [1] the inception of plasma protein therapy occurred when Edwin Cohn developed his fractional ethanol precipitation scheme to isolate a stable albumin solution for the treatment of battle field injury and blood loss [2]. The Cohn scheme yielded albumin as a final product while producing, amongst others, therapeutically useful fractions of fibrinogen and immunoglobulins which could not be employed in widespread use because of safety issues.