[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 159 (Friday, October 4, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1252]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            RECOGNIZING INTERNATIONAL PLASMA AWARENESS WEEK

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                          HON. DORIS O. MATSUI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 4, 2019

  Ms. MATSUI. Madam Speaker, today, as every other day throughout the 
year, patients suffer from rare diseases that need cures, cures that 
are sometimes elusive. But patients that need plasma protein therapies 
have hope; and on October 7 to 11, 2019, across the United States and 
throughout the world, patients, plasma donors, and plasma collection 
centers will join together to observe International Plasma Awareness 
Week (IPAW).
  There will be events to raise global awareness of the crucial need 
for plasma to create life-saving therapies, recognize that plasma 
donors contribute greatly in saving and improving lives, and increase 
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, shock and 
trauma, liver cirrhosis, and infectious diseases such as tetanus, 
hepatitis, and rabies.
  Plasma-derived therapies save and improve lives of individuals 
throughout the world, including in emergency and surgical medicine. 
Plasma protein therapies have significantly improved the quality of 
life, markedly improved patient outcomes, and extended the life 
expectancy of individuals with rare, chronic diseases and conditions. 
Healthy, committed donors provide the plasma essential to manufacture 
these lifesaving therapies; and there are now more than 780 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.
  Madam Speaker, 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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