05/21/2026
On Save-A-Life Day, it is worth talking about one of the most watched developments in prehospital trauma care: dried plasma. Hemorrhage remains a leading cause of preventable death after injury, and getting blood products to bleeding patients earlier could save lives. The challenge has always been logistics. Plasma has historically required cold storage and thawing.
Dried plasma changes the math.
There are two main approaches:
๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ-๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ฑ (๐น๐๐ผ๐ฝ๐ต๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ) ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐๐บ๐ฎ and ๐๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐-๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐๐บ๐ฎ. Both produce a powder that can be stored at room temperature and reconstituted in minutes.
๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฑ:
In August 2024, the FDA issued an Emergency Use Authorization for Octapharma's freeze-dried plasma product, ๐ข๐ฐ๐๐ฎ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ผ๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ, for U.S. military use only, in combat-related hemorrhage when conventional plasma is not available or practical. This is not approved for civilian EMS use. The product had not undergone controlled clinical efficacy studies at the time of authorization.
In August 2025, ๐ฉ๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ผ ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น announced completion of a Phase I first-in-human trial of its ๐๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐-๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ฑ plasma product, FrontlineODP, in healthy volunteers. The dose-escalation, randomized, crossover study reported no serious adverse events. The company has stated the product is investigational and not FDA approved for any indication.
Recent randomized clinical trial evidence on freeze-dried plasma in prehospital trauma resuscitation has shown the product is ๐๐ฎ๐ณ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ, but has not demonstrated a clear mortality benefit compared with existing plasma strategies. That is an important honesty point. Promising logistics, encouraging safety data, but the survival case is still being built.
For now, dried plasma remains a ๐บ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ด๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐น in the United States. It is a serious step toward earlier hemorrhage control, and it is not yet a civilian EMS standard of care.
We will keep an eye on the data. So should you.