Cabinet wants to rely less on US for baby rhesus disease drug
Health minister Sophie Hermans says €8.8m in subsidy has been made available for a more resilient blood supply, as blood bank Sanquin teams up with European partners.
The cabinet wants to become less dependent on the United States for a substance used against rhesus disease in babies. Blood bank Sanquin will work with other European organisations to bring medicines containing certain antibodies to the European market.
Health minister Sophie Hermans (VVD) wrote in a letter to the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of parliament: "A total of €8.8m in subsidy has been made available for a more resilient blood supply."
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Tweede Kamer
The House of Representatives, the lower and more powerful house of the Dutch parliament. Its 150 members are elected directly; it can amend bills and holds the cabinet to account.
Sanquin
Sanquin is the Dutch blood bank, the non-profit organisation responsible for the blood supply in the Netherlands. It recruits donors, tests and processes blood, and manufactures blood-derived medicines from plasma, including antibody-based products such as the anti-D injection used to prevent rhesus disease in newborn babies.