15th of Novemer is dedicated to Placenta-Cord Blood
Placenta-cord blood can save lives. Expecting parents mut be informed about the current and future use of cord blood stem cells and decide for family use or for public donation.
https://parentsguidecordblood.org/en/news/cerebral-palsy-expanded-access-program-europe
Cerebral Palsy Expanded Access Program in Europe November 2019 Frances Verter, PhD Cerebral Palsy patients and families living in Europe now have expanded access to a program of therapy with cord blood stem cells. The new program is open to children that have a diagnosis of cerebral palsy and also have their own cord blood in storage. Patients that meet these conditions can receive cord blood stem cell therapy in a hospital in Poland. The fact that the program is “expanded access” means it is not a clinical trial with strict criteria to participate and limited enrollment. Over time it should be possible to treat hundreds of patients. This is a big advance for these children and their families, when until now there was no such program on the European continent. The term “expanded access” comes from the FDA in the United States, where it is used to describe programs that enable patients with a “serious” disease or condition to gain access to an “investigational medical product”, one that has been proven safe but the efficacy is still under study, when there is no comparable or satisfactory alternative therapy. The first expanded access program (EAP) of cord blood stem cell therapy for cerebral palsy launched in the United States at Duke University in Oct. 2017, under FDA registration as clinical trial NCT03327467. At the Cord Blood Association annual meeting in Sept 2019, Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg of Duke stated in her talk that to date over 320 children have received treatment through this program.