FamiCord Group Expanded Access Protocol
Cord Blood for Cerebral Palsy

Information for the Parent

FamiCord Group’s Treatment Program is a Breakthrough
in the Use of the Patients’ Own Stem Cells

FamiCord Group launches a treatment program of using autologous cord blood stem cells in treating cerebral palsy. It means that patients from all of Europe will have access to innovative stem cell therapies already conducted in Poland. University Children’s Hospital in Lublin is the first partner of FamiCord Group.

FamiCord Group is the biggest stem cells bank in Europe and the fifth in the world. Currently, it co-operates with more than 1,300 hospitals in Europe.The international treatment program called FamiCord Group Expanded Access Protocol Cord Blood for Cerebral Palsy is another step on the way to support the physicians and scientists who research the use of patients’ own stem cells in treating neurological diseases. It is also an opportunity for children suffering from those diseases, in particular cerebral palsy – autological cord blood infusion is a chance for clinical improvement.

The choice of the University Children’s Hospital in Lublin for our partner was deliberate – it was a result of a long-standing co-operation, research and first successful cord blood infusions for little patients of the hospital. Now, we are entering the next stage of the co-operation, the results of which we will soon be able to share with the public. It is important that out program is the first program of this kind in Europe, and the second in the world. As a bank, our main responsibility is to secure cord blood for our patients and their families, but also to support our clients in its application always when it’s necessary, says Tomasz Baran from the Polish Stem Cells Bank which is a part of FamiCord Group. The goal is to make this Program free of charge for FamiCord Group’s clients, he adds.

Professor Magdalena Chrościńska-Krawczyk, PhD (dr hab.), who is a pioneer in the use of cord blood stem cells and Wharton’s jelly in pediatric neurology, is the person responsible for the FamiCord Group Expanded Access Protocol Cord Blood for Cerebral Palsy on behalf of the University Children’s Hospital in Lublin.

 According to Professor Magdalena Chrościńska-Krawczyk, PhD, perspectives are promising. Stem cells collected during the birth have already been used as a source in the process of medical treatment experiments for a few years. We have already had several cases of use of children’s autologous umbilical cord blood. Recently the results of similar procedures from an American institute (Duke University) were published; over 300 children were treated there. We are now hoping to be able to help a greater number of children. Thanks to FamiCord Group, patients from all of Europe are contacting us,” explains Magdalena Chrościńska-Krawczyk, PhD.

So far, 14 little patients in Lublin hospital participated in the pilot phase of the autologous umbilical cord blood therapy for FamiCord Group’s clients.

FamiCord Group is the most experienced entity in Europe in providing and application of the stored material in treatment. We have the best conditions in Europe to research and provide cell material for clinical application. Our research has shown significant improvement of the independence and quality of life of patients with neurological diseases who have undergone the therapy using autologous umbilical cord stem cells. Those results are very promising, but there is still a long way to discover the full spectrum of the possibilities of cord blood and cord tissue stem cells, says Dariusz Boruczkowski, MD, from FamiCord Group.

Cord blood can only be collected once in a person’s life – during birth. This procedure is conducted by FamiCord Group’s banks in all of Europe. Umbilical cord blood stem cells can later be used to save health and life of not only their owner, but also of his or her family members. This is because umbilical cord blood stem cells have much more  ‘universal’ application.

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