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HRSA Awards $12 Million To Collect,

Maintain Cord Blood Units

 

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has awarded funds totaling $12 million to six umbilical cord blood banks – the first to begin collections for the National Cord Blood Inventory (NCBI).

The NCBI will collect and maintain high-quality cord blood units and make them available for transplantation through the newly created C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program, whose four major components were awarded contracts that were announced in September.


The six banks receiving contracts for the NCBI are:

 

·         M.D. Anderson Cord Blood Bank, Houston, Texas – $3 million

·         Carolinas Cord Blood Bank at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C. – $3 million

·         Milstein National Cord Blood Program at New York Blood Center, New York, N.Y. – $3 million

·         StemCyte, Inc., Arcadia, Calif. – $1.5 million

·         University of Colorado Cord Blood Bank, Aurora, Colo. – $1 million

·         Puget Sound Blood Center, Seattle, Wash. – $.5 million

 

“These awards will help to build and maintain a collection of cord blood which could provide lifesaving stem cells to individuals who need them for transplantation,” said HRSA Administrator Betty Duke. “This first year’s collections should help add 10,500 new units of cord blood to the National Cord Blood Inventory.”

The statutory target for the National Cord Blood Inventory is 150,000 new units of cord blood collected from diverse populations, including minority populations, which historically have been the least able to find a suitable matched adult bone marrow donor. The demographics of these initial cord blood collections will be: 19% African-American; 26% Hispanic; 6.5% Asian; 37.5% Caucasian; 10% multi-race; 1% other minorities.

 

HRSA plans a second cycle of competitive contracts to increase the National Cord Blood Inventory early in FY 2007.

 

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