The cord blood banking industry is well-known for its shifting dynamics, including new alliances, new research advances and innovations. Every month there are major new events that affect market participants.
While it may be possible to stay informed about cord blood industry news in your region, it can be more difficult to track changes on a global scale. For that reason, the following is a summary of significant cord blood industry events for June 2015.
Cord Blood News Round-Up for June 2015
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CBR®, World’s Largest Cord Blood Bank Bank, Acquired by AMAG Pharmaceuticals
[June 29, 2015] On June 29, 2015, AMAG Pharmaceuticals released news that reverberated through the cord blood banking industry worldwide, announcing that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Cord Blood Registry® (CBR®) for $700 million. The acquisition is expected to close during the third-quarter of 2015, based on regulatory approvals and execution of agreed upon terms and conditions.
GTCR, LLC, a private equity firm that holds Cord Blood Registry® as a portfolio company was central participant within the deal. Based in Chicago, Illinois, GTCR made its initial investment in the Cord Blood Registry® on September 19, 2012, although the amount invested was not made public.
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Americord Registry Supports Delayed Cord Clamping
[June 15, 2015] Americord Registry announced today that it endorses the practice of delayed cord clamping following the recommendations by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG).
The ACOG recommends that parents who choose to delay cord clamping do so for at least 90 seconds and no more than three minutes following birth. This time frame helps to ensure that the child receives the benefits of the cord blood while still saving enough stem cells for a cord blood collection. When the cord blood collection is begun no later than three minutes, the chances of a viable collection size are high.
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Cord Blood Registry’s New Disease Registry Brings Data and Families Together to Advance Stem Cell Research
[June 8, 2015] Cord Blood Registry® (CBR®), the world’s largest newborn stem cell company, today announced the launch of CBR’s Family Health Registry, a unique registry designed to offer insight into common diseases and conditions affecting families and to bring patients, healthcare professionals and researchers together to expedite and facilitate research related to the discovery of stem cell treatments and potential cures.
CBR is now in a unique position to engage the global research community to investigate new applications for stem cell and regenerative medicine therapies. CBR is in discussions with partners to provide additional health services and access to clinical research which could also benefit patients and their families.
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SynGenX™-1000 System Adopted by Anthony Nolan Cell Therapy Centre
[June 12, 2015] SynGen Inc., a company that focuses on the development and commercialization of instrument systems that harvest stem and progenitor cells from umbilical cord blood, bone marrow, peripheral blood, and cell culture, announced today that, after extensive review of competitive systems, The Anthony Nolan Cell Therapy Centre in Nottingham UK has chosen the SynGenX™-1000 System and the CryoPRO Workstation to process its umbilical cord blood units.
The state-of-the-art SynGenX-1000 System harvests the stem and progenitor cells from collected units of umbilical cord blood. The SynGenX-1000 System has received 510(k) clearance from the FDA for sale in the United States, and is CE marked for sale in the UK and the European Union.
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Umbilical cord blood graft engineering: challenges and opportunities
[June 2015] We are entering a very exciting era in umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT), where many of the associated formidable challenges may become treatable by ex vivo graft manipulation and/or adoptive immunotherapy utilizing specific cellular products. Thompson et al. envisage the use of double UCBT rather than single UCBT for most patients; allowing for greater ability to treat larger patients as well as to manipulate the graft.
The non-expanded (and future dominant) cord could be chosen for characteristics such as better human leukocyte antigen matching to minimize graft vs. host disease, or larger cell counts to enable part of the unit to be utilized for the development of specific cellular therapies such as the production of virus-specific T-cells or chimeric-antigen receptor T-cells which are reviewed in this study.
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Exclusive agreements trigger probe by competition watchdog
[June 17, 2015] A cord blood bank provider has agreed to remove exclusive agreements with baby fair organisers and hospitals that could potentially limit competition from other cord blood bank providers.
The Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) said in a statement today (June 17) that Cordlife Group Limited had entered into exclusive agreements with baby fairs and private maternity hospitals, thus potentially abusing its dominant position and infringing the Competition Act.
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Umbilical cord blood donation: public or private?
[June 1, 2015] Over the past 20 years, private and family [umbilical cord blood (UCB)] banks have grown rapidly, storing ~4 million UCB units for a particular patient or family, usually charging an up-front and yearly storage fee; therefore, these banks are able to be financially sustainable without releasing UCB units. Private banks are not obligated to fulfill the same regulatory requirements of the public banks.
Ballen et al. review the progress of UCB banking technology, and also analyze the current data on pediatric and adult unrelated UCB, including the recent expansion of interest in transplantation for hemoglobinopathies, and discuss emerging studies on the use of autologous UCB for neurologic diseases and regenerative medicine.
To learn more about key market news for the cord blood banking industry, view the “Complete 2015-16 Global Cord Blood Banking Industry Report” now.
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