--- title: Drones Are Delivering Plasma to Wounded Troops in Ukraine at the Point of Injury description: A CU Anschutz study is flying freeze-dried plasma by drone to injured soldiers in Ukraine. The technology just won its first full US license, but civilian use is years off. author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief) date: 2026-09-23T21:45:16.672Z updated: 2026-09-23T21:45:16.681Z canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/drone-freeze-dried-plasma-ukraine-point-of-injury image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/drone-plasma-ukraine-5296.webp categories: Science & Tech content_type: News region: Global publication: Sovereign Magazine schema_type: Article --- Somewhere behind Ukraine's front lines this spring, a small aircraft dropped a package to a military medic working on a soldier with severe blast injuries and heavy blood loss. Inside was a unit of freeze-dried plasma, the part of blood that helps it clot, carried as a powder. The medic mixed it with sterile water, and within a few minutes the patient was receiving a transfusion, far from any hospital or blood bank. That delivery was part of a study run by the University of Colorado Anschutz Department of Emergency Medicine with the pharmaceutical company Octapharma. The project, called PLASMA-RESCUE, is testing something battlefield medicine has wanted for a long time: whether an aircraft can carry blood products to a critically injured person near the moment of injury, in places where evacuation is slow or impossible. The researchers treated their first group of patients between March 15 and June 13, 2026. "What we're trying to do is see if we can feasibly get blood products to individuals at their point of injury as opposed to waiting to get someone from the front line to a hospital," says Corey Bills, MD, an associate professor of emergency medicine and one of the study's leads. ## The First Patients Were Soldiers Bleeding From Blast Wounds The first 26 patients were Ukrainian military personnel injured in combat, most with blast-related trauma and significant blood loss. Each received at least one unit of freeze-dried plasma, a shelf-stable powder that reconstitutes into usable plasma in minutes. The study reported a significant improvement in the patients' shock index, a measure of instability that combines heart rate and blood pressure, and a 100 percent survival rate at 24 hours across the group. The study is observational and does not establish that the plasma caused the improvement, the researchers stress, because survival in badly injured patients turns on many things at once: the wound, the timing, the surgery that follows, the care in between. The team plans to enroll more than 100 patients before drawing firmer conclusions. For now the finding is that the delivery is feasible and the early signals are encouraging, not that a drone drop saved 26 lives. ## Blood Is the First Treatment for Someone Bleeding Out A person losing blood faster than a medic can stop it needs blood, and the sooner the better. "Before the bleeding can be stopped surgically, rapidly providing blood products is the first line of defense that can be lifesaving," says Adit Ginde, MD, MPH, a professor of emergency medicine and senior associate dean for clinical research at CU Anschutz. The hard part has always been logistics: blood is heavy, perishable, and usually kept in a fixed place, so the standard approach rushes the patient to where the blood is. Point-of-injury transfusion reverses that, and it has been moving from theory toward routine in military medicine for more than a decade. US Special Operations Forces have carried French freeze-dried plasma to the point of injury since 2011, and French and German forces have used it for years. ## Two Established Technologies, Newly Combined Freeze-dried plasma has a long military track record, and the drone side is even more established: the delivery company Zipline has flown medical shipments in Rwanda since 2016 and Ghana since 2019, and has since expanded to other countries. What is new is putting them together in an active war zone and collecting patient data on the result. The plasma used in the study, an Octapharma product called octaplasLG, shows why the powder form matters. Conventional fresh frozen plasma has to be kept frozen and thawed before use, which is difficult to manage in the field. Freeze-dried plasma stores at room temperature and reconstitutes with sterile water in a few minutes, which is what makes it something a drone can drop and a medic can use on a roadside. On July 29, 2026, the FDA licensed Ezplaz Freeze Dried Plasma, made by Teleflex, [the first freeze-dried plasma product fully licensed for use in the United States](https://investors.teleflex.com/news/news-details/2026/Teleflex-Announces-FDA-BLA-Approval-of-EZPLAZ-Freeze-Dried-Plasma/default.aspx). The agency had issued an emergency use authorization for freeze-dried plasma in August 2024, but full licensure is the step that clears the way for wider civilian stocking. ## Fewer Than One in a Hundred US EMS Agencies Carry Blood The same problem shows up in civilian emergencies once the roads fail. "A wildfire can close roads, a hurricane or flood can isolate a community, and an earthquake can damage the roads and bridges needed to get patients to care," Bills says. Vik Bebarta, MD, who chairs the Department of Emergency Medicine and founded the CU Anschutz Center for COMBAT Research, puts the connection directly: "If a drone can put plasma in a medic's hands hundreds of miles from a blood bank, it can do the same for a paramedic on a mountain road." The plasma and the aircraft already work; the gap is in the civilian system that would have to carry them. As of late 2024, only about 1 percent of US emergency medical services agencies carried blood products of any kind, and reimbursement for transfusions given before a patient reaches the hospital remains patchy, which leaves agencies to absorb the cost. A drone program adds its own questions on top of that: who supplies and rotates the plasma, who pays for the flights, and which aviation rules govern a machine carrying a medical product over populated ground. In Florida, Tampa General Hospital and Hillsborough County are launching what is set to be the first US civilian whole-blood drone deliveries, the closest test yet of whether the model can work outside a war zone. More on the study is available from [CU Anschutz](https://news.cuanschutz.edu/emergency-medicine/bills-ukraine-drones-plasma). ## FAQ **Q: How is freeze-dried plasma different from the whole blood some ambulances carry?** Plasma is the liquid part of blood, carrying the clotting factors and proteins that help stop bleeding, but not the red cells that whole blood contains. Giving plasma early helps stabilize a bleeding patient and buy time to reach surgery; it supports the patient rather than fully replacing what a hospital transfusion can provide. **Q: Who makes the plasma used in the study, and is it the same product the FDA licensed?** They are different products. The Ukraine study used octaplasLG, donated by Octapharma. The product that won the first full US license in July 2026 is Ezplaz, made by Teleflex. Both are freeze-dried plasma; in a civilian system, who would supply, rotate and pay for the plasma is one of the unresolved questions. **Q: When could a US paramedic actually use drone-delivered plasma?** There is no set timeline. The plasma and the drones already exist, but civilian use depends on solving supply, cost and aviation rules, and today only about 1 percent of US EMS agencies carry blood at all. A program in Florida is starting the first US civilian whole-blood drone deliveries, which will be an early test of how the pieces fit together.