The IPFA 2nd Asia Workshop on Plasma Quality and Supply 2017 took place in Yogjakarta on 2-3 March 2017 and covered very important topics for policy makers, pharmaceutical industry representatives and patients from several countries in the Asia Pacific region.

The workshop created a great platform for discussion of patients’ needs, quality system and management, donor recruitment, plasma selection and screening. Representatives from the Ministry of Health, Malaysia & Department of Health and  from the National Blood Bank were in attendance together with pharmaceutical industry leaders and patients. One of the key conclusions of the meeting was that there is still work to be done before South East Asia can fractionate plasma, both from the infrastructure and the business environment sides.

Bruce Lim, IPOPI Board member and President of the national primary immunodeficiency (PID) patient group, MyPOPI, attended the meeting, increasing the PID community’s visibility in the discussions.
MyPOPI took the first step for collaboration with the National Blood Bank and with the Haemophilia Society to work together in an event in conjunction with World Primary Immunodeficiencies Week 2017.