AABB, America's Blood Centers (ABC) and the American Red Cross (ARC) urged leaders of the United States House of Representatives Appropriations Committee to adopt the proposed funding included in the White House's fiscal year 2020 budget request to encourage development of pathogen-reduction technologies (PRT). AABB and its partner organizations continue their support of PRT in the interest of patient safety, ease of use by hospital transfusion services and availability of a robust supply of all blood components. In a recent letter, AABB explained how the development, implementation and adoption of PRT can further enhance the safety of the nation's blood supply by reducing the risk of existing and emerging infectious agents.
The organizations note that current PRTs are expensive and limited to platelets and plasma collections. Additionally, these processes result in product loss and contain narrow guard bands that inhibit wide-scale production. AABB, ABC and ARC support FDA's dedication and request for funding to advance PRT, simply and inexpensively, without disruption to blood collectors or hospital operations. However, the organizations highlight that Congress will need to dedicate additional funding to evaluate the impact of new technologies and policies on the economics of the blood system and the stability of the blood supply.