News

Aug 2019   A savior child can provide cord blood that is a match to an older sibling that needs a stem cell transplant. Conceiving a savior child requires Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT) that screens embryos to both exclude genetic diseases and include matching HLA types. To avoid a slippery slope into creating designer babies, the clinics that perform PGT should adhere to ethical guidelines.

Aug 2019   Most of the clients of Cryo-Save in Europe can now find their children’s biological material stored with the bank PBKM Famicord. Parents are advised to verify the status of their children’s samples.

Jul 2019   Itzel Cervantes had a successful cord blood transplant to treat recurring leukemia. The cord blood that saved her life had been in storage for 12 years before it was called from the StemCyte public bank. More than 5 years after her transplant, Itzel remains healthy, with no serious side effects, and is thriving.

Jul 2019   Patients need unrelated cord blood donors, but public cord blood banks that stand alone have struggled to survive financially. In honor of Cord Blood Awareness month, we review alternative business models for public cord blood banks: hybrid banking, crossover banking, and community or pool banking. We also do the math to demonstrate that community or pool banking is a financially viable support for public banks and fills unmet public health needs.

Jul 2019   Cellsure is the only company in the United States that fully integrates public donation and private storage of newborn stem cells, because every mother that participates with CellSure is a donor. Cellsure is the only company in the world that offers placenta banking as an alternative to cord blood banking. CellSure's low price for private banking will appeal to a new demographic of parents. CellSure is poised to disrupt the traditional business model of cord blood banking.

Jun 2019   Within the next year, the Perinatal Stem Cell Society is organizing 3 conferences. We will have our own day at Cord Blood Connect on 12 Sept. 2019, our annual meeting is in Salt Lake City in March 2020, and our first European event will be in Czech Republic May 2020. We are also introducing new membership benefits and asking members to begin paying dues.

Jun 2019   Our results are the first evidence that multiple doses of cord blood are better for improved long term outcomes. Using rats to model perinatal brain injury, we compared our control groups to therapy with a single dose of cord blood versus 3 doses over a week. Ultimately we hope to improve the design of human clinical trials and help children and families living with cerebral palsy.

Jun 2019   With the Pall 5-chamber bag, each compartment holds 20% of the total stem cell storage. Parents storing cord blood today in a 5-chamber bag have the option in the future to use individual compartments - meaning up to five doses - for cord blood stem cell therapies.

May 2019   Levi's parents became concerned when, after age one, he did not speak. Finding out that he was autistic, they worried if he would ever be independent. Then, they learned that they could use Levi's cord blood stored at CBR to participate in a clinical trial of stem cell therapy for autism. Going into the research study, they did not know if it would make a difference or not, but they felt it was worth trying. After the study, they found that “The communication, the touching, the talking, so many things that he didn’t do and didn’t participate in, was actually no longer an issue.” Today, Levi's parents feel "We don’t have to worry about who’s going to take care of him, because he’s gonna be able to take care of himself."

May 2019   The Stem Cell Institute in Panama provides therapies using mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) sourced from donated umbilical cord (UC) tissue. Their autism treatment consists of four daily intravenous infusions of UC-MSC. Depending on the child’s weight, the total dose is 40 to 80 million UC-MSC and the therapy program costs $13K to $18K.