The cord blood banking industry is a rapidly evolving industry experiencing nearly constant innovation. Every month there are major events that shift industry dynamics. Often, these events are announcements of technical or scientific advancements. Sometimes they are announcements of industry collaborations or alliances. Occasionally, they are announcements of a new industry competitor, a major milestone, or a significant grant award.
While it can be easy to track changes in your region, it can be quite difficult to track changes occurring globally, and it can be very time-consuming to stay on top of the latest science.
However, for those of us interested in the cord blood industry, tracking these shifting industry dynamics is of vital importance. This post covers the most significant cord blood industry news as of March 2015.
Cord Blood News Round-Up for March 2015
1. Pluristem and Hadassah Medical Center Announce Significant Data Showing PLX-R18 Cells Improve Bone Marrow Transplantation
[March 3, 2015] Pluristem Therapeutics Inc., a leading developer of placenta-based cell therapy products, announced positive data from a preclinical study of PLX-R18 cells to improve outcomes of bone marrow transplantation. PLX-R18 is being developed to treat a range of hematologic indications including complications associated with bone marrow and cord blood transplantation.
In the study, conducted in conjunction with Hadassah Medical Center, mice with damaged bone marrow who received intramuscular injections of PLX-R18 cells together with a bone marrow transplant had significantly faster recovery of blood cell production compared to those who received a placebo with the bone marrow transplant.
@Pluristem #transplantation #hematologic #bonemarrow #preclinical
2. News Release: Joanne Kurtzberg Chosen To Lead New Cord Blood Association
[March 3, 2015] Joanne Kurtzberg, MD, director of the Carolinas Cord Blood Bank, Durham, N.C., has been chosen to be the first President of the new Cord Blood Association. The Cord Blood Association is an international nonprofit organization that promotes public and private banking and the use of umbilical cord blood and related tissues for disease treatment and regenerative therapies.
Dr. Kurtzberg, who received her medical degree at New York Medical College, has been active in the field of cord blood transplantation and banking since the beginning. She founded the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at Duke University Medical Center in 1990, where cord blood transplants have been a focus. Her team at Duke performed the world’s first unrelated cord blood transplant in 1993 using a cord blood unit from the the New York Blood Center.
Others elected to office were Geoffrey Crouse as Vice President, Sue Armitage as Secretary, and Kenneth Giacin as Treasurer.
#cordbloodassociation #foundingboard #collaboration #nonprofit
3. Potential biomarker identified for neonatal sepsis in preterm infants
[March 3, 2015] Leena Mithal, MD, pediatric infectious diseases fellow at Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, discusses new research which found that acute phase reactants in cord blood of premature infants could be used in detection and risk stratification for early onset sepsis. While early onset sepsis in neonates continues to be a significant cause of morbidity and mortality, there are insufficient clinical and laboratory diagnostics available to apply necessary antibiotic prophylaxis.
To determine whether evaluation of acute phase reactant biomarkers in umbilical cord blood could improve early onset sepsis detection, Mithal and colleagues compared archived cord blood and placental data from preterm infants with confirmed early onset sepsis, presumed early onset sepsis, late onset sepsis as well as a control group without sepsis.
#sepsis #neonates #biomarkers #cordblood #placenta
4. BioLife Solutions CryoStor® Cell Freeze Media Used in Mayo Clinic Safety and Feasibility Study of Umbilical Cord Blood-Derived Cells for Pediatric Cardiac Regeneration
[March 3, 2015] BioLife Solutions, Inc., a developer, manufacturer and marketer of clinical grade hypothermic storage and cryopreservation freeze media and precision thermal shipping products, announced its CryoStor cell freeze media was utilized in a porcine animal study of umbilical cord blood-derived mononuclear cells (UBC-MNC) to evaluate the safety and feasibility of these cells for cardiac regeneration in pediatric congenital heart disease (CHD).
Thawed umbilical cord blood-derived mononuclear cells were administered to piglets via intramyocardial injections, with follow-up lasting three months. No mortality or toxicity in any study animal was observed. The safety and feasibility study was performed at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, with the results recently published in…
@BioLifeSol #animalstudy #congentialheartdisease #pediatric
5. Study Shows Stem Cells Have Potential to Help Kids’ Hearts, Too
[February 27, 2015] Several studies showing the promise of stem cells for treating patients with heart failure have made headline news recently. However, all these studies targeted adult patients. New research appearing in this month’s STEM CELLS Translational Medicine demonstrates that stem cells may have the same potential to treat children with congenital heart diseases.
The study, undertaken by researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, looked at the feasibility and long-term safety of injecting autologous umbilical cord blood cells directly into the heart muscle at the pediatric stage of heart development. The study was conducted on pigs, due to their hearts’ similarity to human hearts.
The team injected the stem cells directly into the right ventricle of groups of three- and four-week old healthy piglets, and then compared the results to a control group that did not receive any cells.
@MayoClinic #cordblood #cardiacrepair #pediatric
6. ESPERITE (Euronext ESP) pioneers first treatment worldwide of Cerebral Palsy using two types of stem cells
[February 23, 2015] CryoSave, part of ESPERITE, is the only private cord blood bank sponsoring a GCP clinical trial according to GMP-ATMP international guidelines CryoSave leads and sponsors a multicentre clinical trial following GCP-ICH standards, for investigation of new treatment of Cerebral Palsy using dual infusion of two types of stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood and cord tissue processed by CryoSave.
The clinical trial aims to demonstrate safety and preliminary efficacy of sequential intravenous infusion of the ex vivo expanded mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) derived from cord tissue and the cord blood stem cells. The study will use, for the first time in clinical research, autologous MSC-derived from cryopreserved cord tissue.
@CryoSave #clinicaltrial #cordtissue #MSC
7. Cesca Therapeutics Announces Approval of Its MarrowXpress(TM) System in India
[February 11, 2015] Cesca Therapeutics Inc., an autologous cell-based regenerative medicine company, announced the Company has received approval from the India Drug Controller General (“DCGI”) for the import and commercialization of its MarrowXpressTM (“MXPTM“) System in India. “We are very pleased to receive approval from the DCGI for our MXP System for bone marrow stem cell processing specifically for the preparation of intra-operative at the point-of-care or clinical laboratory preparation of bone marrow concentrate,” said Ken Harris, President and leader of Cesca’s clinical programs.
#cordblood #bonemarrow #processing #India
Future Cord Blood News Round-Ups
Note that we have been and will continue to cover major case law, patents, clinical trials, grant awards, and scientific advancements in separate posts, so sign-up for our email list below to be alerted as soon as this content is posted.
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BioInformant is the only research firm that has served the cord blood sector since it emerged. Our management team comes from a BioInformatics background – the science of collecting and analyzing complex genetic codes – and applies these techniques to the field of market research. BioInformant has been featured on news outlets including the Wall Street Journal, Nature Biotechnology, Medical Ethics, CBS News, and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).
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To learn more about trends and opportunities within the cord blood banking industry, view the “Complete 2015-16 Global Cord Blood Banking Industry Report” now.
