In a Single Day, a Critical Income Source Vanishes: The Unannounced Closure of Wyoming’s Plasma Centers

For Andy Tholl of Casper, the roughly $400 a month he earned donating plasma was his truck payment. It was the financial buffer that let him enroll his kids in hockey without painful budget choices. So when he learned via a local Facebook post Tuesday that the BioLife Plasma Services center in his city had abruptly and permanently closed, the news felt like a gut punch, delivered without warning or courtesy.

“It’s the courtesy — or no courtesy — of it that gets me,” Tholl told Cowboy State Daily. “I’m sure the employees also would’ve liked a heads-up.”

Tholl is one of many across Wyoming for whom selling plasma is not a stereotype of last resort, but a structured, vital way to bridge monthly budget gaps. The sudden, simultaneous shuttering of BioLife centers in Casper and Laramie on February 3, 2026, has left a community of cash-strapped donors scrambling. The closures appear to follow a national pattern for the company, leaving unanswered questions and financial anxiety in their wake.

A Sudden Blow to Household Budgets

BioLife’s model incentivizes regular donation, with payments of around $40 per visit and bonuses for referrals and new clients. For donors, this often adds up to hundreds of dollars per month—money earmarked for groceries, utilities, car payments, and other essentials.

The company provided no direct notice to its regular clients. Like Tholl, most discovered their supplemental income stream had evaporated through social media or by arriving at a locked door. The lack of a 30-day warning, Tholl said, removed any chance to plan for the lost revenue.

The closures also impacted employees. While BioLife states each center can employ up to 70 people, the exact number of Wyoming workers affected is unknown. A manager at the sole remaining Wyoming location in Cheyenne, which is still operational, declined to comment, citing company orders.

Corporate “Optimization” and a Pattern of Closures

In response to inquiries, BioLife’s media relations team issued a generic statement, saying the closures were part of an effort to “optimize our network” of 235 centers amid growing global demand for plasma-based medicines. The company expressed gratitude to employees and donors but failed to answer specific questions about notice, employee numbers, or reasons for selecting the Wyoming sites.

This script matches closures in other states. Last summer, centers in Clarksburg, West Virginia, and Marquette, Michigan, were suddenly shuttered with identical corporate language about “optimization” and support for impacted employees.

No Local Alternative

For displaced donors, the remaining Cheyenne center is not a viable alternative. “It wouldn’t be worth the gas,” Tholl said, noting the 2.5-hour drive from Casper would consume any earnings.

The closures leave a significant gap in these communities. BioLife’s parent company, Takeda Pharmaceutical, is a global giant currently fighting thousands of lawsuits, including a major class-action RICO case over its diabetes drug Actos. However, for Wyoming donors, the immediate concern is personal, not corporate. Their reliable, “it’s-there-when-you-need-it” financial tool has vanished overnight, with no local replacement in sight. The silence from the company on the reasons behind the decision only deepens the frustration for those who depended on it.