New York, NY; February 19, 2019 — Americord Registry announced today that it will begin offering five-compartment freezing bags for all new customers storing cord blood as well as the highest quality guarantee in the industry. While industry-standard freezing bags typically contain two compartments, one holding eighty percent of the cord blood and a second holding twenty percent, Americord’s new freezing bags contain five compartments with twenty percent of the cord blood in each compartment.
“We’re seeing the science advance in the expansion of stem cells in cord blood, so that while historically there may have been skepticism about dividing doses of collected cord blood because all of it would be needed for treatment, that may not be the case in the near future,” said Martin Smithmyer, CEO of Americord.
There are technologies in advanced stages of development which stimulate the stem cells in cord blood to divide and multiply by factors of ten or more, meaning cord blood could soon be a multiple-dose resource.
“We want our customers to be able to take advantage of this as soon as these technologies are FDA-approved, allowing doctors to use it in the most flexible means possible. Together with Cord Blood 2.0™, the Americord process which yields significantly higher cord blood collection volume than the industry average, the potential for cord blood to be used in multiple doses is becoming a reality,” Smithmyer continued.
Americord Registry is driving internal innovation in the field with its own research as well. “We want to provide the next generation of technology that will move the banking and use of cord blood and perinatal tissues forward,” said Dr. Andrew L’Huillier, Director of Product Development. “We have recently filed multiple provisional patents based on our initial research in areas including improved tissue transport medias, new cord blood collection technologies, and ways to reduce the risk of graft vs host disease for unrelated donor transplants.”
Americord further announced that it will begin offering a $110,000 quality guarantee, the highest in the industry. The guarantee promises parents $110,000 if the cord blood they have stored with Americord is used in a transplant and fails to engraft. “With the confidence of the technologies and processes we are providing to families who want to store stem cells from their newborn, as well as the breakthroughs we hope to bring to market in the coming years, we are excited to offer the highest quality guarantee in the industry,” said Smithmyer.
About Americord Registry
Americord® is a leader in the advancement of umbilical cord blood, cord tissue, and placental tissue banking. As a private bank, Americord® collects, processes, and stores stem cells for future medical or therapeutic use by the family who saves them. Americord Registry was founded and is located in New York, NY.