Major Cord Blood Industry Change in 2015

Although we are only a few months into 2015, the cord blood banking market has already been experiencing rapid change.

The industry has seen structural advances occur, including a recent announcement of the Board of Directors for the Cord Blood Association, an  international nonprofit  that  promotes the  storage and use of cord blood and related tissues, such as cord tissue and placenta.

There have been major research advances as well. In one major example, a porcine animal study was conducted by the Mayo Clinic to evaluate the safety and feasibility of  cord blood-derived mononuclear cells (UBC-MNC) for use in promoting regeneration in pediatric congenital heart disease (CHD).

There have even been major clinical advances made already in 2015, with CryoSave leading and sponsoring a multicentre clinical trial following GCP-ICH standards, to determine if Cerebral Palsy can be addressed by infusing stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood and cord tissue into patients.

However, no understanding of the cord blood market is complete without a consideration of recent case law and significant legal decisions, which brings us to the focus on this market update.

Cord Blood Case Law & Legal Updates

Currently, there are three legal situations of which cord blood market participants should be aware: [Read more…]