FDA approves first cord blood-derived therapy

For the first time, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a therapy that uses human blood derived from both the placenta and the umbilical cord to treat several types of blood disorders including blood cancers.

Late last week the FDA gave official license to HEMACORD (Hematopoietic Progenitor Cells-Cord, HPC-C), specifically "for use in unrelated donor hematopoietic progenitor cell transplantation procedures… in patients with disorders affecting the hematopoietic system that are inherited, acquired, or result from myeloablative treatment."

HEMACORD can therefore provide a potentially life-saving intervention in patients with some forms of leukemia, as well as blood cancer patients who undergo myeloablative radiation and/or high-dose chemotherapy for the purposes of receiving a bone marrow transplantation.

HEMACORD will come with a warning regarding the risks of graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD) and several other complications that arise from hematopoietic transplantations.

Source: FDA