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RECOGNITION OF INTERNATIONAL PLASMA AWARENESS WEEK
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HON. DORIS O. MATSUI
of california
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, October 4, 2022
Ms. MATSUI. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of patients across the United States and worldwide who rely upon medicines made from donated plasma. October 3-7 is International Plasma Awareness Week
(IPAW), and this year, 2022 marks the 10th annual IPAW. The need for plasma donation remains ongoing coming out of the decline in donations seen during the COVID-19 pandemic and helps create lifesaving therapies to treat individuals living with rare diseases. This week, patients, plasma donors, and plasma collection centers will join together to observe IPAW via a range of events seeking to raise global awareness of the crucial need for plasma to create lifesaving therapies, recognize that plasma donors contribute greatly in saving and improving lives, and increase the understanding of the many rare diseases and plasma protein therapies that help to treat them.
Plasma-derived therapies and recombinant blood clotting factors, collectively known as plasma protein therapies, are unique biologic medicines that are either infused or injected to treat a variety of rare, life-threatening, chronic, and genetic diseases, including bleeding disorders, hereditary angioedema, immune deficiencies, pulmonary disorders, neurological disorders, and infectious diseases such as tetanus, hepatitis, and rabies. Hundreds of thousands people in the U.S. who live with these rare diseases, and countless others facing trauma and emergency medical needs every day, rely on plasma protein therapies that are only available because of the commitment of dedicated plasma donors.
Plasma protein therapies have significantly improved the quality of life, markedly improved patient outcomes, and extended the life expectancy of men, women, and children in every community across the country. Healthy, committed donors provide the plasma essential to manufacture these lifesaving therapies. There are now over 1,000 plasma collection centers in the U.S. that have demonstrated their commitment to plasma donor and patient safety and quality by earning International Quality Plasma Program (IQPP) certification. I ask that my colleagues in the House of Representatives join me and rise in commemoration of International Plasma Awareness Week, honoring those committed donors and collection centers who make and collect needed and lifesaving contributions.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 160(1), Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 160(2)
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