[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 160 (Tuesday, October 4, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1025]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           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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