FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
6/13/07
Represents Most Related Cord Blood Transplant Experience
Cambridge, MA and Oakland, CA (June 13, 2007) ViaCord®, the umbilical cord blood preservation division of ViaCell, Inc. (Nasdaq: VIAC), and Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI) today announced that they have achieved their 100th umbilical cord blood transplant. The 100th transplant was a sibling transplant to treat Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID), commonly known as “bubble boy” disease. This historic milestone includes transplants through cord blood collected, preserved and stored with ViaCord and transplants using cord blood stored through CHORI’s Sibling Donor Cord Blood Program.
In 2006, ViaCell and CHORI combined their efforts in the area of directed transplants for sibling donor umbilical cord blood to form the Sibling Connection Program. This program provides ViaCord’s comprehensive cord blood collection, processing and five years of storage at no cost to families who have a child in need of a transplant and meet the other requirements of the program.
ViaCord and CHORI have the most related cord blood transplant experience. As the leading provider of related cord blood for directed transplantation, ViaCord and CHORI offer transplant physicians and families confidence the cells are processed and stored in a high quality manner at ViaCord’s state-of-the-art cord blood processing laboratory.
“ViaCord stored our younger son’s umbilical cord blood which was later used to treat his brother for sickle cell anemia,” said Ms. Tammy Witherspoon, mother of two in McComb, Mississippi. “After many years of suffering, our older son is now cured of the disease. We are so grateful for this medical advance and urge families to learn more about the potential of umbilical cord blood.”
“The therapeutic effect cord blood has in treating a wide range of diseases supports the need to educate all birthing families about cord blood preservation so they can adequately consider this unique opportunity,” said Brent N. Davidson, MD. Service Chief, Women’s Services, Henry Ford Hospital, West Bloomfield, Michigan. “Moreover, it is important that families understand the clinical advantage of using cord blood stem cells from a related source should they need the preserved cord blood for a future transplant.”
The majority of the ViaCord and CHORI transplants were used to treat siblings for a variety of diseases, including various types of leukemia, Fanconi anemia, sickle cell anemia, and thalassemia, among others. Additionally, several autologous transplants (transplants using the child’s own cord blood) were performed to treat diseases such as severe aplastic anemia and neuroblastoma.
In February 2007, Dr. Mark Walters, Director of the Blood & Marrow Transplant Program at Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland and Medical Director of ViaCord’s cord blood processing laboratory, presented findings that related umbilical cord blood units are an effective graft source for treatment in a variety of diseases requiring transplantation. As presented at the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation Meeting, transplant outcomes from units processed and stored through CHORI’s Sibling Donor Cord Blood Program compared favorably with bone marrow transplantation from sibling donors. In 60 patients evaluated, the median time to neutrophil recovery was 22 days. The overall survival at one year was 80%. Acute graft-versus-host-disease, or GVHD (greater than Grade 1), was observed in 25% of allogeneic recipients and only 4% had chronic GVHD. In contrast, 41% of recipients who receive unrelated transplants develop acute GVHD and 25% develop chronic GVHD. ViaCord expects to publish its updated transplant findings at future medical meetings.
About Umbilical Cord Blood
Umbilical cord blood is a valuable, non-controversial source of stem cells with proven therapeutic effect in treating over 40 diseases. These diseases include cancers such as Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, certain bone marrow failure syndromes such as severe aplastic anemia and Diamond Blackfan anemia, certain blood disorders such as sickle cell anemia, thalassemia and other genetic disorders. Over 8,000 cord blood transplants have been performed worldwide. Studies have shown that umbilical cord blood transplants from a family member, rather than from a non-relative, have a significantly higher survival rate than transplants from an unrelated donor.
About ViaCord
ViaCord allows expectant families the opportunity to preserve their baby’s umbilical cord blood for potential medical use by the child or a related family member. The child’s cord blood is collected at the time of birth in the only FDA-approved cord blood collection bag suitable for use in a sterile field. To date, over 115,000 families have preserved their children’s umbilical cord blood through ViaCord. The ViaCord Processing Laboratory, located in Hebron, Kentucky, is an AABB accredited cord blood facility. Additional information about ViaCord is available online at http://www.viacord.com.
Research at Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland, CA
Research efforts at Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland are coordinated through Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI). Children’s Hospital Oakland is Northern California’s only freestanding and independent children’s hospital. CHORI’s internationally renowned biomedical research facility brings together seven centers of excellence that are devoted to clinical and basic science research to treat and prevent disease. CHORI has approximately 300 investigators and an annual budget of more than $47 million, primarily supplied by National Institutes of Health grants. The institute is a leader in translational research, bringing bench discoveries to bedside applications. These include providing cures for blood diseases, developing new vaccines for infectious diseases, and discovering new treatment protocols for previously fatal or debilitating conditions such as cancers, sickle cell disease, AIDS/HIV, pediatric obesity, hemophilia and cystic fibrosis.
About ViaCell
ViaCell, Inc. is a biotechnology company dedicated to enabling the widespread application of human cells as medicine. The Company markets ViaCord®, a product offering through which families can preserve their baby’s umbilical cord blood at the time of birth for possible future medical use in treating over 40 diseases including certain blood cancers and genetic diseases. ViaCell also conducts research and development primarily to investigate other potential therapeutic uses of umbilical cord blood-derived cells and on technology for expanding populations of these cells. ViaCell’s pipeline is focused in the areas of cancer, cardiac disease, diabetes and fertility. For more information about ViaCell, visit our website at http://www.viacellinc.com.
ViaCell® and ViaCord® are federally registered trademarks of ViaCell, Inc.
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