Umbilical Cord Blood in Numbers

  • 50-120 ml – the average volume of umbilical cord blood that can be collected after childbirth.28 years – the maximum period of storage of frozen umbilical cord blood to date, after which it is known that thawed cells are suitable for use. Although it is believed that frozen biomaterial can be stored indefinitely.
  • 40,000 transplants of hematopoietic umbilical cord blood stem cell have been performed worldwide today. But this is only for the treatment of blood and metabolism diseases. There were ten times more applications of umbilical cord blood in regenerative therapy.
  • 100 diseases, at least as many pathological conditions today can be corrected with the use of umbilical cord blood stem cells.
  • 32 years ago, the world’s first transplant of hematopoietic umbilical cord blood stem cells was performed in France. The first patient to receive such innovative at that time therapy is now a healthy successful man, although he was born with Fanconi anemia.
  • 37 years is the age of the world’s first patient to receive umbilical cord blood for genetic anemia treatment. Today, Matthew Farrow is a healthy person, a happy family man who strongly supports the development of biobanking and clinical application of umbilical cord blood.
  • 15 years, this is the period during which the umbilical cord blood has been used to treat cerebral palsy and autism. The use of umbilical cord blood in pediatric neurology was initiated by Professor Joan Kurtsberg in the United States.
  • 4 million families have already preserved the umbilical cord blood of their newborns around the world. They know that in case of illness, the preserved stem cells will be ready to help the baby or other family members.
  • 600,000 parents donated the umbilical cord blood of their newborns to state biobanks, having saved thousands of lives.
  • 28 years ago, the world’s first umbilical cord blood bank was established, the first client of which was its founder, Professor David Harris, who froze the umbilical cord blood of his newborn son.
  • 1,000 transplants of umbilical cord blood are performed annually in Japan. Japan is one of the world leaders in the use of hematopoietic umbilical cord blood stem cells. And the search for methods to treat the victims of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after World War II was the impetus for the development of bone marrow transplantation.
  • 500 umbilical cord blood banks operate worldwide. There are public (state) and private (autologous, family) banks among them. The former are funded by the state and encourage parents to donate umbilical cord blood to save someone’s life, and family-type banks provide perinatal tissue (umbilical cord blood, umbilical cord, placenta) for the needs of their own family.
  • 233 clinical trials involve the use of umbilical cord blood. Hematopoietic stem cell transplant is a protocol method for the treatment of a number of cancers and congenital diseases of the blood and metabolism. Cell therapy of other diseases (myocardial infarction, cardiomyopathy, stroke, viral hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, osteoarthritis, COVID-19) is carried out in clinical trials.
  • 1,000 patients in Ukraine annually require hematopoietic stem cell transplant. The necessary cell graft can be obtained from bone marrow, umbilical cord blood or peripheral blood, from the latter only if the donor takes special drugs.
  • 20,000-40,000 euros is the cost of the donor umbilical cord blood transplant. Since finding a compatible bone marrow donor is extremely difficult (chances are 1:1,000 to 1:1,000,000), umbilical cord blood is often used instead. In 2006 and 2010, the European Blood and Marrow Transplant Association (EBMT) officially declared umbilical cord blood an alternative to bone marrow.
  • 17 years, this is the period during which the umbilical cord blood storage is available in Ukraine in the first national Cryobank at the Institute of Cell Therapy. The Institute of Cell Therapy was also the first among national biobanks to receive a license from the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the first in Ukraine to receive an international quality certificate ISO 9001: 2008 and 9001: 2015.
  • 12 years, this is the period during which the the Institute of Cell Therapy drugs have been used in clinical trials. In 2008, for the first time in Ukraine, the Institute of Cell Therapy received a permit from the Coordination Center for Organ, Tissue and Cell Transplantation of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine to conduct clinical trials using stem cells. Drugs of the Institute of Cell Therapy are successfully used by leading medical institutions of Ukraine, and a number of methods have already received official registration from the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.