Canberra-headquartered Aspen Medical is helping turn frontline medical requirements in Ukraine into practical innovation, operational evidence and lessons for the wider defence health sector. Working with global biopharmaceutical company Octapharma and Ukrainian partners, Aspen Medical played an integrating and operational role in converting an approximately US$1.2 million donation of freeze-dried plasma (FDP) into a frontline capability for Ukrainian surgical teams.
Aspen Medical helped validate the requirement, coordinate stakeholders and international delivery, maintain accountability, and establish mechanisms for operational feedback and data sharing. The initiative has also included field testing of drone delivery of FDP with Ukraine’s Security Service, the SBU, an Aspen Medical partner in other innovative frontline medical projects. The work provides Ukrainian teams with a critical haemorrhage-control capability while generating insights into the transport, storage, reconstitution, training and use of FDP in contested environments.
Aspen Medical (USA) Vice President – Special Projects Terry Rauch said the value of the initiative extended well beyond delivery of the product itself. “What makes this work important is that we are not simply delivering a medical product to the front line. We are working with our Ukrainian and industry partners to understand how capabilities such as freeze-dried plasma can be transported, delivered and used effectively in a contested environment. From testing drone delivery to capturing operational data, the lessons emerging from Ukraine can help inform the next generation of military medicine and ultimately improve care for casualties on the battlefield,” Rauch said.
Findings from the Ukrainian field experience were highlighted at the 2026 Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS) in the United States, translating battlefield experience into lessons relevant to military medicine and the U.S. warfighter.
Aspen Medical is also supporting a follow-on study with the University of Colorado examining the effectiveness and operational use of FDP on the front line. Building on the initial program, Aspen Medical subsequently facilitated a further Octapharma donation of fibrinogen concentrate for frontline use. Fibrinogen is essential to blood clot formation and can fall rapidly during major bleeding. Aspen Medical’s partnership with the SBU also extends to a smart stretcher project, which was selected as a finalist in a NATO Innovation Challenge.
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