Month: September 2022

REGULATION OF CORD BLOOD TRANSPLANTS. "In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration regulates cord blood under the category of “Human Cells, Tissues, and Cellular and Tissue Based-Products.” Several states also require accreditation, including New York, New Jersey, and California." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cord_blood View in LinkedIn

2011: FDA TREATS CORD BLOOD AS A BIOLOGICAL DRUG. By 2009, over 22,000 cord blood units (CBUs) were shipped for transplantation, and the majority of the inventory (600,000) are unlicensed CBUs, collected before regulations and now governed by an Investigational New Drug Application (IND) for procedures. http://lnkd.in/dsbbKjN View in LinkedIn

THIS SUMMARY OF CELL TRANSPLANT TRIALS, (cord, bone marrow,peripheral blood, and iPS) is surprisingly sparse, given the many thousands of patients that have been treated worldwide. Autologous treatments (the patient's own cells) are considered the lowest adverse risk, and often the diseases have no other options. Most centers advertise their own outcome data separately. http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org/content/122/4/491.full View in LinkedIn

TYPICAL TESTIMONY FOR CORD BLOOD TRANSPLANTS. "Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's Cord Blood Program was launched in 2006. Since then, we have performed more than 200 transplants in patients with malignant and non-malignant diseases who range in age from less than 1 year to 71 years." They have nine ongoing clinical trials today. View in LinkedIn

CORD BLOOD TRANSPLANTS MOSTLY FOR KIDS. "Most cord blood transplants in the U.S. are performed on children because the amount of cord blood may not contain enough cells to treat adults, but research is expanding the possibility for adults." http://www.texasoncology.com/media-center/fact-sheets/cord-blood-transplants.aspx View in LinkedIn

SOUTH KOREA STEM CELL LEAD: "has now approved more stem-cell treatments than any other country. One such therapy, which uses stem cells derived from umbilical cords to tackle osteoarthritis, was approved in 2012 and is made by biotechnology firm Medipost in Seoul." http://lnkd.in/dg6_kYA View in LinkedIn

MEDIPOST, KOREA: leading a "new era of mass-manufactured ... stem cell drug products" to treat knee and cartilage defects, neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's (AD) and ALS, pulmonary disorders, and blood diseases. Using non-controversial cells from unrelated umbilical cord cell banks. In phase I trials in ALzheimer's. http://www.medi-post.com/am_1.asp View in LinkedIn

META-ANALYSIS OF CORD VS BONE MARROW TRANSPLANTS. "Six studies were included in the review; three included children (n=477) and three included adults (n=1,312)." They concluded that the outcomes were similar but that the statistical and clinical variability made the data unreliable. Despite many thousands of procedures, few big studies on outcomes. http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/crdweb/ShowRecord.asp?LinkFrom=OAI&ID=12007001220 View in LinkedIn

INDUCED PLURIPOTENT STEM CELLS "are a type of pluripotent stem cell that can be generated directly from adult cells ... pioneered by Shinya Yamanaka’s lab in Kyoto, Japan, (2006) ... the introduction of four specific genes could convert adult cells to pluripotent stem cells. He was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize along with Sir John Gurdon." http://lnkd.in/dMsngrG View in LinkedIn

WHY ARE iPS CELLS A BIG DEAL? "Cell differentiation was seen as final and irreversible. Once a cell became specialized ... It was considered locked-in and unable to become any other cell type. However, in 2006, scientists reported that they had turned a differentiated cell back into a stem cell with the potential to become any type of cell in the body." http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/stemcells/ips/ View in LinkedIn