Research at the New York Blood Center Convinces Congress to Provide Inventory of Cord Blood Stem Cell Units for Transplant Patients; Photo Available

1/23/2004

From: Rich Murphy, 212-570-3101 or 917-439-1727 (cell) Kathleen Reichert, 212-570-3184 or 917-626-7384 (cell) both of the New York Blood Center

NEW YORK, Jan. 23 -- Yesterday, the U.S. Senate passed a $10 million appropriation spearheaded by Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) to create a National Cord Blood Stem Cell Program through a network of FDA qualified cord blood banks. The appropriation jump starts authorizing bills ("Cord Blood Stem Cell Act of 2003") introduced into the House and Senate last summer.

The appropriation and the Cord Blood Stem Cell Act will provide federal support over five years to build a national inventory of 150,000 high quality cord blood units for public use in patients who need bone marrow reconstitution but do not have suitable bone marrow donors. Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Arlen Specter (R-PA), Sam Brownback (R-KA) and Chris Dodd (D-CT) were the lead sponsors of the bill in the Senate. Christopher Smith (R-NJ), Richard Burr (R-NC), Edolphus Towns (D-NY), and 17 other co-sponsors helped move the House bill forward.

With this legislation, a concept that began as NIH-sponsored research now has become a practical resource for all patients in need of bone marrow transplants. Drs. Pablo Rubinstein and Cladd E. Stevens, Director and Medical Director of New York Blood Center's National Cord Blood Program, lauded Senator Specter and the sponsors of the Senate and House bills for their "bold combination of the practical, the necessary and the possible" (New York Daily News, Jan. 2, 2004). Dr. Rubinstein noted gratefully that "patients who actually benefited from our cord blood transplants have been instrumental in showing our Representatives and Senators at hearings in Washington that cord blood transplants really work, clear examples of why this legislation is so critical for patients everywhere".

The legislation follows after more than 10 years of research at the New York Blood Center in pioneering the use of umbilical cord blood as a source of hematopoietic (blood-forming) stem cells. The Blood Center's Program began in 1992 with a three- year research grant from the National Institute of Health's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute which established the world's first public cord blood bank where mothers donate their babies' cord blood to anyone who might need it. Over 23,000 donations later and nearly 1,500 patients transplanted at more than 150 clinical centers around the world, the Blood Center's Program has shown that cord blood can be as effective as bone marrow from an unrelated donor. Most importantly, cord blood transplants work well even when not perfectly matched to the patient, a special benefit for patients with rare tissue types and for ethnic minorities.

Every year thousands of patients who cannot find a suitable donor in their own families or among the several million volunteer donors in marrow registries lose their battle against leukemia and other lethal diseases of the blood and immune system and certain rare metabolic diseases. Only 25 percent of patients seeking a transplant each year actually succeed in finding a donor (report on the National Marrow Donor Registry by the Government Accounting Office, October 2002). The statistics are even worse for ethnic minorities. Now, these patients have another effective source of hematopoietic stem cells in banked umbilical cord blood. This new landmark legislation will fund the rapid expansion of an inventory of high quality cord blood units from an ethnically diverse pool of donors, assuring that an estimated 80-90 percent of patients will be able to find a suitable stem cell transplant.

The New York Blood Center is one of the nation's largest independent blood collection and distribution organizations, responsible for nearly 10 percent of the national blood supply. The Center's Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute is a leader in research on transfusion medicine, conducting both basic and applied research.

Editor's Note: High resolution, publication-ready photo(s) supporting this story available for free editorial use at: http://www.wirepix.com/newsphotos/USN

INTERVIEW, TAPING AND PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE

The New York Blood Center, a member of America's Blood Centers, is one of the nation's largest non-profit, community- based blood centers. With the support of our many regional operations (note 1), New York Blood Center has been providing blood transfusion products and services to patients in New York and New Jersey hospitals since 1964. The New York Blood Center is also home to the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute and the National Cord Blood Program, the nation's largest public cord blood bank. New York Blood Center also operates the Hemophilia Consortium which provides critical drugs and blood products delivered to the homes of area patients.

(note 1) New York Blood Center includes:

Brooklyn/Staten Island Blood Services; Long Island Blood Services; Hudson Valley Blood Services; New Jersey Blood Services; New York Blood Services

New York Blood Center Clinical Services, providing Perioperative Autologous Transfusion (reinfusing a patients own blood during Surgery) plus Therapeutic Apheresis procedures plus Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplants. All of these services are provided to hospitals in the above geographic areas and to a select number of hospitals in Connecticut.

Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute is a center for blood- related research with over 100 scientists and technicians working towards a safer blood supply and more effective transfusion medicine.