FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, September 24, 2007 |
CONTACT:
HRSA PRESS OFFICE
301-443-3376 |
HRSA Awards $2.2 Million to Increase Collection of Cord Blood Units
for National Inventory
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, today awarded funds totaling $2.2 million to a second group of umbilical cord blood banks to begin collections for the National Cord Blood Inventory (NCBI). The NCBI collects and maintains high-quality cord blood units and makes them available for transplantation through the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program.
“The cord blood collected by these newly awarded organizations will provide additional sources of lifesaving stem cells to individuals who need them for transplantation,” said HRSA Administrator Betty Duke, Ph.D. “Their efforts will add 1,900 new units of cord blood to the National Cord Blood Inventory this year.”
Awards were made to the following organizations:
- St. Louis Cord Blood Bank in St. Louis, Missouri - $549,968
- Texas Cord Blood Bank in San Antonio, Texas - $1,660,220
The statutory NCBI target is 150,000 new units of high-quality cord blood collected from diverse populations, including minority populations which have been least able to find suitable matched adult bone marrow donors. The demographics of this second round of collections will be as follows: nine percent African-American, 36 percent Hispanic, three percent Asian, 38 percent Caucasian, and 14 percent from multiracial groups.
Through August 31, 2007, approximately 5,300 units have been collected by the first cohort of cord blood banks for inclusion in the NCBI. Grants supporting the first cohort of cord blood banks were announced last year.
Blood-forming cells collected from bone marrow or circulating blood have historically been the primary sources of blood stem cells for patients in need of transplantation to treat various life-threatening disorders such as leukemia. More recently, umbilical cord blood has been shown to contain an adequate number of blood stem cells to make it an alternative source for some individuals needing life-saving transplantation.
Research indicates that blood stem cells from cord blood may result in successful transplants with a less perfect match in tissue type between the donor and recipient than is needed with cells from adult donors. A patient's best chance for survival usually comes from a blood stem cell donor who is related to the patient and matches the patient's tissue type. A transplant from an unrelated adult donor or cord blood unit is an option
when there is no donor available in the family. Cells from a fully matched adult donor or partially matched cord blood unit often offer a similar chance for survival as cells from a related donor. Transplants of bone marrow, circulating blood, or umbilical cord blood can save the lives of many patients with leukemia, lymphoma and other blood diseases by replacing a patient's diseased blood cells with healthy cells from a volunteer donor.
Visit the Bill Young Program site for more information on bone marrow or cord blood transplantation. For more information on stem cells, see http://stemcells.nih.gov.
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The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), part of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated, or medically vulnerable. HRSA also oversees the national organ and tissue transplantation system, trains a diverse health care workforce and places them in health professional shortage areas, and promotes and
improves the health of women and children. For more information about HRSA and its programs, visit www.hrsa.gov.
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