Private blood-plasma collector Grifols, which has for months faced intense scrutiny after the death of two donors, is temporarily pausing plasma collection at all of its donation centres across Canada.

The company, in a statement on Thursday, said it proactively and voluntarily made the decision to pause collection activities after what it called “unfounded attention” on its practices.

“The temporary pause will allow Grifols to work with Health Canada and Canadian Blood Services on the framework needed to support the continued development of a sustainable and robust plasma collection network in Canada,” said Grifols in its statement.

On Wednesday, Health Canada issued the for-profit operator a formal notice of non-compliance for its failure to comply with blood regulations, according to a senior official with close knowledge of the issue.

The Globe and Mail is not identifying the official because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

Rodiyat Alabede, a 22-year-old university student in Winnipeg, died last October after donating plasma at Grifols’ Taylor Avenue site in Winnipeg.

A medical summary prepared by an unnamed Health Canada staff member on March 27 said Ms. Alabede’s death was “temporally coincident” with the plasma donation, but not caused by it. It also said staff training and emergency response at the Grifols donation centre were “all found to be compliant” with applicable standard operating procedures.

That finding was at odds with a report written by Health Canada inspectors in December, who visited the Winnipeg collection site and found deficiencies, such as staff not terminating Ms. Alabede’s donation after the machine she was hooked up to displayed an alert that the machine’s user manual says should have prompted staff to end the procedure early.