ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 9 -- CORD:USE Cord Blood Bank is proud to announce that the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded CORD:USE Cord Blood Bank a three-year, multi-million dollar contract to expand the supply of cord blood units for the National Cord Blood Inventory (NCBI).
"Being a NCBI bank is a prestigious designation which further validates the procedures and operations which CORD:USE utilizes to ensure that our cord blood units are of the highest possible quality," said Dr. Edward Guindi, M.D., President and CEO of CORD:USE. "CORD:USE is honored to have assembled a world-class team of pioneers and leaders in the field of cord blood banking and transplantation, and this award is wonderful recognition of CORD:USE Cord Blood Bank, which they have helped build."
The NCBI was created as part of the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005, Public Law 109-129. The goal of this legislation is to place 150,000 new high quality cord blood units into the NCBI to be made available for public use to potentially save the lives of patients in need of a transplant.
"The funds from this three-year contract with HRSA will be utilized by CORD:USE to add additional high quality, ethnically and racially diverse cord blood units to the NCBI," said Michael Ernst, Executive Vice President and CFO of CORD:USE. "We are thrilled to be employing these resources along with ours to achieve our mission to help many more patients in need."
About CORD:USE
CORD:USE Cord Blood Bank, headquartered in Orlando, Florida is creating a large, ethnically diverse, high quality inventory of available cord blood stem cell units for the many patients in need of a potentially life-saving transplant. CORD:USE has entered into agreements with hospitals across the country to provide mothers the option to donate their babies' cord blood. CORD:USE makes these cord blood units available to transplanters throughout the country and around the world, as a critical component in their patients' treatment. CORD:USE is accredited by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) and lists all of its units on the National Marrow Donor Program's Registry. For more information, please visit www.corduse.com.
SOURCE CORD:USE Cord Blood Bank
