News

Mar 2025   The goal of Birth Equity is to provide optimal birth conditions for all mothers. In the United States, maternal mortality is three times higher among black women than among white women. Everyone who works with expectant parents should be aware of disparities in birth outcomes and strive towards holistic care for all expectant mothers.

Mar 2025   When expectant mothers work with doulas, they have better birth outcomes. Health insurance plans are finding that providing coverage for doula services pays for itself. Currently in the US, most state Medicaid plans have some form of doula coverage.

Feb 2025   The first comparison of treating cerebral palsy with cord blood (UCB-MNC) versus cord tissue (UCT-MSC) finds that response is faster with cord blood but long-term improvement is comparable with either cell type.

Feb 2025   This month South Korea launches a program which gives seriously ill patients expanded access to regenerative medicine therapies that are not yet on the market.

Jan 2025   Cartistem® from Medipost is a regenerative medicine product manufactured from cord blood that is used to treat severe knee arthritis. It has regulatory approval in South Korea since 2012, and Medipost is seeking approvals in Japan and North America. Cartistem® has been used to treat over 30,000 patients and its sales have grown by 36% per year.

Dec 2024   We provide a table summarizing placenta regulations in each of the 50 US states plus the District of Columbia. As of Dec. 2024, the states in which you can definitely or probably take home your placenta are: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Texas.

Dec 2024   FACT has published Version 8.2 of the NetCord-FACT International Standards for Cord Blood Collection, Banking, and Release for Administration.

Nov 2024   The UAE has a half dozen new cord blood laboratories, four of them from companies that have been in this market for years and two from new entities. The explosion of laboratories in this small country is partly an effort to continue doing business under new regulations, and partly an investment in a national market that many see as having great potential.

Nov 2024   Swiss Stem Cells Biotech has introduced a banking model that is a private/public hybrid with crossover. Parents that opt into the hybrid bank have the option to release their cord blood if it matches an anonymous patient.

Nov 2024   Parent’s Guide to Cord Blood has been offering parents questionnaires to ask family banks since 1998. Back in 2017 we moved these questions into the FAQ section of our website. Now in 2024 we are restoring the format where all the questions are in one list.