The Department of Defense has received emergency authorization for the use of powdered plasma, called octaplasLG powder, from the Food and Drug Administration.
The U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity develops and tests a number of blood replacement therapies that can be utilized by soldiers in combat including freeze-dried plasma, and now powdered plasma.
During the War on Terror, the concept of the "golden hour" was developed and refined. It was a combat medicine protocol that emphasized speeding casualties to rear areas where they could be treated by doctors with first-rate equipment. Today, war planners envision a different environment on future battlefields where time and distance preclude the golden hour, or where American soldiers find themselves fighting in contested airspace. This makes blood replacement therapies in the field critical to save soldier's lives.
"During combat operations, whether in the Arctic, the Indo-Pacific, or other regions of interest, we will be facing the dual challenges of time and distance due to the austerity of those operating environments," Maj. Andrea Mountney explained. "Each passing second after a Service member is wounded or injured increases the complications caused by combat trauma. The longer it takes to begin blood replacement therapy, the higher the chances of mortality."
The emergency authorization for the use of powdered plasma only applies in field emergency situations, as a stopgap, where other types of blood replacement therapies are unavailable.