Fact Sheet - History of Cord Blood Banking

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The History of Cord Blood Banking

1974 First report on stem/progenitor cells in human cord blood.⁴⁶

1980's Cord blood shown to have similar attributes as bone marrow and recommended to be used as a bone marrow alternative for use in transplantation.

1988 First successful cord blood transplant to regenerate blood and immune cells in Paris, France on a six-year-old boy suffering from Fanconi's Anemia, a blood disorder.⁴⁷

1992 Cord Blood Registry's laboratory is founded in Tucson, Arizona.

1993 First unrelated cord blood transplant at Duke University.

1994 Dr. David Harris, noted cord blood expert and scientific director of Cord Blood Registry, publishes his first cord blood article.⁴⁸

1995 Cord Blood Registry opens corporate headquarters in San Mateo, CA.

1996 First U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Investigational New Drug (IND) for cord blood - NIH/National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLB) Sponsored Cord Blood Transplantation Study (COBLT).

1996 Cord Blood Registry begins Designated Treatment Program (SM) to provide free cord blood banking for families with a medical need.

1997 Research is published showing that the one-year survival rate is more than twice as high if the patient receives a cord blood stem cell transplant from a relative (63%) vs. an unrelated cord blood stem cell transplant (29%).²⁸

1998 Cord Blood Registry becomes first family bank to be accredited by the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB). 

2001 Studies show that cord blood is a suitable alternative to bone marrow for treatment of adults with diseases treatable with a stem cell transplant.

2002 Cord Blood Registry publishes less than 1% cord blood contamination rate - lowest in the industry.⁴⁹

2004 Institute of Medicine (IOM) begins yearlong study to make recommendations for a national cord blood program.

2005 Doctors initiate emerging use of cord blood stem cells to treat brain damage, diabetes, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury, and stroke.

2005 Cord Blood Registry provides cord blood stem cells to clients for use in infusions in children with anoxic brain injury, cerebral palsy and traumatic brain injury.

2005 Researchers begin clinical trial using autologous (one's own) cord blood stem cells to treat type 1 diabetes.

2005 Researchers' findings prove that primitive pluripotent "embryonic like" stem cells are present in cord blood.⁵⁰ 

2005 Researchers around the world begin to explore techniques that will optimize the benefits of cord blood stem cells by researching cell expansion technologies, the process by which cells from cord blood are multiplied or expanded, which may enable families to use samples for more than one treatment.

2005 Cord Blood Registry opens new, state of the art, high capacity laboratory and storage facility.

2005 United States Congress passes national cord blood legislation. The report language accompanying the Stem Cell Research and Therapeutic Act of 2005 (H.R. 2520) supports the IOM recommendation to ensure that all pregnant women are provided with fair and balanced information about private banking, directed donation or donation to a public bank. The legislation seeks to create a national inventory of 150,000 high quality public cord blood samples.

2006 A study reveals that only one-third of expectant mothers are aware of cord blood banking and more than 90% of patients who were aware, expect their healthcare provider to inform them and answer their questions about cord blood banking.⁵¹

2006 Cord Blood Registry launches a company-wide initiative called Principles in Action® (SM), which establishes principles to ensure that Cord Blood Registry operations maintain alignment with established laws, regulatory guidelines and marketing standards in both interactions and communications with healthcare professionals and consumers.

2007 First report of autologous (one’s own) cord blood transplantation in the treatment of a child with leukemia.⁵²

2008 Cord Blood Registry publishes the highest cell recovery rate in the industry – 99%.¹

2008 Cord Blood Registry has provided 105 samples for client transplants, more than any other family bank.

2008 Research shows that by age 70, the likelihood of needing an autologous (one’s own) stem cell transplant is 1 in 435, the likelihood of needing an allogeneic (someone else’s) stem cell transplant is 1 in 200, and the odds of being a candidate for either an allogeneic or autologous transplant is 1 in 217. This is based on diseases currently treated with stem cells.⁴² 

2010 Cord Blood Registry is the first bank to offer U.S. families the opportunity to save a segment of their babies’ umbilical cord tissue in addition to the cord blood.

2010 The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) launches a clinical trial exclusive to Cord Blood Registry, to evaluate the use a child's own cord blood in the treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI).

2011 Cord Blood Registry announces the expansion of its Designated Treatment Program®, to include free cord tissue storage, in addition to cord blood, for families with a medical need.

2011 Cord blood stem cells proven to be viable after 21-23.5 years of storage.⁴⁵

2011 More than 25,000 cord blood stem cell transplants have been performed worldwide.³⁰

2011 Cord Blood Registry preserves cord blood samples from more than 400,000 newborns throughout the world.

2011 Memorial Hermann Healthcare System begins a clinical trial exclusive to Cord Blood Registry using one's own cord blood stem cells to treat hearing loss.

2011 More than 400,000 children have newborn stem cells stored with CBR.

2011 Cord Blood Registry has provided more than 200 samples for client treatments, greater than any other family bank.