[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 15770]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         IN RECOGNITION OF INTERNATIONAL PLASMA AWARENESS WEEK

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DORIS O. MATSUI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 10, 2017

  Ms. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, on October 8 to 14, 2017, across the United 
States and throughout the world, patients, plasma donors and plasma 
collection centers will join together to observe International Plasma 
Awareness Week. There will be events 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 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 more than 575 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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