Cell Expansion Technologies
At the ViaCord Research Institute ® (VRI) we are working to advance technologies that multiply cord blood stem cells, with the goal of treating more diseases and more adults. This is important because today the quantity of stem cells available from a single umbilical cord unit is generally only enough to treat one patient at one time.
In collaboration with the MD Anderson Cancer Center, the ViaCord Research Institute® is conducting a clinical trial using a cord blood expansion technology called Co-culture. The study is expected to be completed sometime next year with the goal of discovering new ways to treat adults using cord blood stem cells. You can read more about this exciting new technology in the August ‘08 edition of Experimental Biology & Medicine.
ViaCord also owns a portfolio of intellectual property rights including Selective Amplification. Selective Amplification is designed to expand the overall cell count in a cord blood unit.
While there is no assurance that cell expansion technologies will be approved by the FDA, using them to develop new therapeutics could potentially increase the importance of cord blood stem cells in the future
