Cryo-Cell International – Innovative Stem Cell Solutions

This time of year is often called the “season of miracles.”  While different people celebrate the holidays in their own special way, this time of year does become a period of reflection that has an uncanny way of transcending race, religion, politics and geography, as the calendar year draws to a close.  

In the spirit of this season of miracles, I would like to pause and reflect on 2009.  This year has brought exciting progress and promise for seismic advancements in stem cell research and development that may well serve to transform our lives in the years to come.

I am awestruck at how rapidly stem cell science and potential regenerative stem cell therapies are emerging. Stem cells from umbilical cord blood, for example, have now been utilized to treat or cure more than 75 diseases in over 12,000 transplants worldwide.  Here at Cryo-Cell, during the last three years alone our cord blood stem cell transplants have increased by 135%.

With Cryo-Cell’s breakthrough discovery that menstrual blood contains proliferative stem cells and our subsequent launch of the revolutionary Célle^SM menstrual stem cell service, we are particularly proud to witness how far Cryo-Cell’s proprietary menstrual stem cell technology has progressed in just a few years.  

Since the launch of Célle in 2007, Cryo-Cell has announced eight research and development collaborations that may possibly lead to the treatment or cure of conditions such as stroke, diabetes, heart disease, breast cancer, wound-healing, vascular regeneration, endometriosis and urinary incontinence.  Cryo-Cell is extraordinarily fortunate to partner with some of the world’s most distinguished stem cell researchers who are exploring therapeutic developments that utilize our menstrual stem cell technology and who are as excited about the potential of Célle technology as we are.

Major advances in public policy have also provided great hope for stem cell therapeutic breakthroughs.  In March 2009, President Obama signed an Executive Order that reversed a ban on the use of federal funds for embryonic stem cell research thereby setting the tone for rapid progress on all fronts of the stem cell industry.  Two other federal legislative acts were also set in motion with H.R. 1718, the Family Blood Cord Banking Act and H.R. 2107, The Cord Blood Education and Awareness Act of 2009. These acts respectively would provide significant tax benefits for a family’s costs associated with umbilical cord blood banking and storage, and would mandate a public campaign to educate expectant parents about their options for banking or donating their child’s cord blood.

As an ever-growing global industry leader, the Cryo-Cell International enterprise includes our progressive and highly-committed global license affiliates who presently span twelve countries including: Brazil, China, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Thailand and Venezuela. Cryo-Cell now has over 200,000 clients worldwide.

On a personal level, I rejoice that my own season of miracles is filled with abundant blessings.  I am truly grateful to spend my life dedicated to advancing Cryo-Cell as the global industry leader of stem cell innovation. I am incredibly proud to work with an amazing team of dedicated professionals and fellow directors at Cryo-Cell who believe that every stem cell specimen we process and cryopreserve may possibly one day save a life.  

With continued encouragement and inspiration from my family, friends and colleagues who mean so much to me, I personally hold steadfast to an unwavering hope and belief that a myriad of revolutionary stem cell therapies may be on the foreseeable horizon during our lifetime.

And so, it is my wish that your season of miracles be filled with happiness and good health.  And may one day, your life and the lives of your loved ones be touched by the promise of stem cells.  

Warmest regards,
Mercedes Walton

It's October, so once again, pink ribbons and fundraisers abound. While truly encouraging, all of this month's activity provides but a glimpse and a reminder of all that goes on in the fight against breast cancer every other month of the year - - year after year.

According to the American Cancer Society, there are 2.5 million breast cancer patients and survivors today, and an estimated one in eight women will be stricken with this disease at some point in her life. These alarming statistics mean that each of us is likely to have a personal experience with breast cancer in some way eventually, whether it be personal or through that of a loved one.

We at Cryo-Cell continue to dedicate significant resources toward the fight against breast cancer, and emerging science is very promising. In fact, we have a research partnership with the National Institutes of Health to study the potential benefits of C'elle menstrual stem cells for the treatment of breast cancer. Regardless of the roles we fill in our careers at Cryo-Cell, however, there are personal roles and relationships with moms, daughters, sisters, friends and neighbors that remind us of the human side of science.

When it comes to understanding breast cancer, powerful learning comes not just from the lab, but from the "sheroes" among us. The women who demonstrate perseverance, positive attitude and the conviction to prevail are incredibly inspiring. It helps to keep these strong survivors in mind when it comes to the diligence and perseverance required in the pursuit of advancing science to fight this disease.

I am particularly inspired by Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who in March revealed that she underwent seven surgeries in 2008 in her own battle against breast cancer. She endured her treatment while maintaining her responsibilities as a member of the House; and her role as wife and mother to three children. Rather than let breast cancer deter her, she leveraged her personal experience and her position as a legislator to help make a difference nationwide.

In fact, Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz introduced the Education and Awareness Requires Learning Young Act, or EARLY Act. This legislation directs the Centers for Disease Control to develop and implement a national education campaign about the threat breast cancer poses to young women to enable early diagnosis in this group. The EARLY Act will also provide grants to organizations that support young women diagnosed with breast cancer in order to receive the assistance they need—including social and psychological support, fertility preservation counseling and recurrence prevention training.

Congresswoman Wasserman Shultz says, "The purpose of my legislation is not to alarm people, but to educate and empower young women so we can reduce the number fatalities from this horrific disease."

Above all else, it's her use of the word "empowerment" that is so poignant to me. How easy it would be to feel powerless against breast cancer. So, Congresswoman Wasserman Shultz and the millions of other survivors among us, I salute you this month. As the scientific and medical communities continue to harness the promise of stem cells and aggressively pursue treatments and therapies, I continue to be both inspired and empowered by all of you sheroes in this fight.

Last month, to celebrate Cord Blood Awareness month and the release of the movie “My Sister’s Keeper” we at Cryo-Cell asked our readers to share their own stories for a chance to win tickets to see the movie. To our delight, the responses were eloquent and overwhelming. Some of your stories were heartwarming, while others were heartbreaking. In every instance, your stories served to illuminate our purpose in pursuing innovative stem cell solutions for families just like yours.

 

There were so many common themes amidst the myriad of responses we received. The stress of our everyday lives as mothers, daughters, wives and caretakers--often facing multiple challenges that come with raising children, living without healthcare coverage, caring for ailing loved ones, coping with economic struggles or coming to terms with a life-impacting diagnosis such as breast cancer or heart disease.

 

Some of you are stay-at-home moms with several young children. Some balance career and family, sometimes with multiple jobs. Others are dedicated volunteers or full-time students. But all of us believe that stem cells offer promise and hope. Here are just a few stories that especially touched us:

 

Nicole lamented, “My husband and I have three children under five. He works double shifts…and we help take care of his 89-year-old grandfather who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. We have very little time for ourselves and our relationship as a couple.”

 

And Deborah wrote, “Our four-year-old son…has recently been diagnosed with autism. We have been trying to deal with his diagnosis and not get too overwhelmed.”

 

Or Carol, whose husband was diagnosed with cancer when she was five months pregnant. Thanks to a stem cell transplant, her husband is “alive and doing well” and enjoying their son who is now seven.

 

Although we all face struggles, we each have a unique purpose and mission in this life that becomes clear as our personal journeys unfold. The numerous challenges that many of you endure and the everyday miracles you have described provide me with a renewed perspective on our collective journey to advance stem cell science and regenerative medicine.

 

Like you, I can surely envision a time when stem cell therapies may render debilitating diseases and disorders obsolete. I, too, share your belief that there is real hope in our lifetime that researchers may pave the path to use stem cells in ways we presently find hard to imagine. I accept the formidable challenges of our complicated stem cell industry, knowing that the work we do today will continue to bring hope and promise to everyday families like yours and mine.

 

In spite of our different stories we share a common purpose. We are universally committed to work tirelessly for the day when innovative stem cell solutions become an affordable and accessible alternative to conventional standards of healthcare. The inspirational words of one contributor named Amneris proclaimed “I can't tell you when my day starts, because it never ends, and I love it.”

 

In closing, I wish to extend my heartfelt appreciation to all of our readers who took precious time to share their touching stories of struggle and triumph. Each journey has served as a poignant reminder to all of us behind the business, science and politics of the stem cell industry. With so many human lives hinging on hope, we must hold steadfast to our purpose to find the promise of stem cells.

Kudos to the American Hospital Association Society for designating July as Cord Blood Awareness month, an effort intended to increase expectant parents’ understanding of their cord blood banking options. What better time to celebrate progress made and focus on the great and many challenges that remain.

 

On the upside, 2009 has been a year of great hope and progress for cord blood awareness. The topic has garnered headlines in politics, public policy and even popular culture.

 

Most recent is the new blockbuster movie, My Sister’s Keeper, based on the compelling novel by Jodi Picoult. In the story, a family conceives a daughter who is genetically engineered to be a donor match to help save the life of their older daughter who suffers from acute promyelocytic leukemia. The first of the many donations is her cord blood. Even though the story is fiction, it is based in part on a real family’s experience as well as on scientific fact. Since the first cord blood transplant in 1988, there have been more than 12,000 transplants worldwide. Today, stem cells from cord blood treat more than 75 conditions including several types of acute and chronic leukemias, sickle cell disease, Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and Hodgkin's disease. Emerging science shows great promise for many more uses.

 

I’m pleased that the movie has sparked conversation at a grassroots level. Because the plot is so thought-provoking, it has given friends, families and neighbors a platform to talk about cord blood and its potential to save lives.

 

The first half of 2009 has been a busy one as it relates to public policy. On March 9, President Obama signed an Executive Order reversing a ban on the use of federal funds for embryonic stem cell research.  While this action did not directly affect the non-controversial cord blood arena, it certainly sets the tone for rapid progress on all fronts.

 

The Executive Order was followed shortly thereafter by two other major actions at the federal level: H.R. 1718, the Family Blood Cord Banking Act and H.R. 2107, The Cord Blood Education and Awareness Act of 2009. These acts respectively would provide significant tax benefits for a family’s costs associated with umbilical cord blood banking and storage, and would mandate a public campaign to educate expectant parents about their options for banking or donating their child’s cord blood.

 

Additionally, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina all have passed laws to facilitate and enable improved education and awareness of the benefits of cord blood and its preservation.

 

While 2009 certainly has been a great year so far for garnering awareness for the benefits of cord blood, we’ve a long way to go. For instance, neither H.R. 1718 nor H.R. 2107 has gone to a vote. It’s important to encourage our country’s leaders keep these bills top-of-mind, especially because public awareness of the benefits of cord blood continues to be alarmingly low. In fact, the Journal of Reproductive Medicine published some very startling statistics as follows:

• 1 in 3 pregnant women never learn about cord blood banking

• 45% of pregnant women surveyed were unaware their baby’s cord blood could be used to help a sibling

• 84% of patients expect their healthcare provider to answer questions about cord blood banking

• Only 14% are educated by their healthcare provider about cord blood banking

Rather than be discouraged, I choose to view this information as a motivator for my continued perseverance, and I encourage everyone to do the same. The best way to celebrate Cord Blood Awareness Month is to leverage this year’s momentum to continue efforts on every front. We must ensure that families everywhere are not simply aware of nature’s miracle, but encouraged and even provided incentive to preserve it.

The recent release of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) draft guidelines on stem cell research funding should inspire innovation, not incite controversy. It’s time to talk about stem cell research without provoking debate or raising ethical dilemmas. It’s time to talk about adult stem cells.

In recent years, intense discussion surrounding stem cell research has focused primarily on embryonic stem cells (ESCs). While these stem cells are capable of transforming into every cell type in the body and hold great promise for creating regenerative cell-based therapies to treat a broad range of diseases, they remain highly controversial because of the source from which they are derived as well as their propensity to form (cancerous) terratomas. In view of these shortcomings, it is perplexing why media, government, and the public have paid so little attention to non-controversial adult stem cells which are harvested from alternative sources and may even transcend the promise of ESCs.

Adult stem cells have the ability to differentiate into many types of cells; can be collected from non-controversial sources; may be abundantly available and potentially derived from renewable sources; and have demonstrated safety and efficacy. Umbilical cord blood stem cells are a prime example of the benefits of adult stem cells which have been proven to treat more than 75 life-threatening illnesses, including leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell anemia and thalessemia. Since the first cord blood stem cell transplant in 1988, an estimated 12,000 cord blood transplants have occurred worldwide.

Cryo-Cell International, Inc. discovered that stem cells harvested from menstrual blood have the ability to differentiate into many other types and may potentially be pluripotent. This is the first stem cell with both adult and embryonic markers that multiplies rapidly from a renewable source; can differentiate into other cell types, and can also be easily harvested in a painless, non-invasive manner as compared to other stem cell sources such as bone marrow or mobilized peripheral blood. In November 2007, Cryo-Cell introduced a revolutionary and proprietary new service, C’elle, empowering women to collect and cryopreserve their own menstrual stem cells for future potential therapies.

Preclinical research suggests that menstrual stem cells have the potential to one day treat a host of diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke and perhaps other neurological disorders. It’s possible that one day, menstrual blood stem cells may also be used for vascular regeneration; breast cancer therapy; or perhaps skin regeneration and wound-healing.

Even more exciting is that a woman has the ability to invest in her future healthcare by collecting and saving these non-controversial stem cells that may grow in value over time as regenerative therapies emerge.

Thanks to President Obama, we can continue the promising work we’ve started. So let’s not get mired in the controversy. Let’s encourage legislation that further explores and funds adult stem cell research. We cannot afford to marginalize the life-saving potential that adult stem cells bring.

Mercedes A. Walton is Chairman & CEO of Cryo-Cell International, Inc., an industry leader in cord blood banking and innovative stem cell solutions, with more than 175,000 clients worldwide.

If the world’s leading stem cell researchers were asked to describe characteristics of the ideal stem cell, I personally believe their descriptions would include the following set of features: 1). the ability to differentiate into many types of cells; 2). non-invasive collection techniques from non-controversial sources; 3). the availability of a vastly renewable cell source; 4). low immunological reaction to mitigate tissue matching considerations; 5). demonstrated safety: not likely to produce cancer.

Human beings begin life as a single stem cell for thirty minutes from the moment of conception when a woman's egg is fertilized by her partner's sperm. Shortly thereafter, this single stem cell begins to multiply into hundreds of millions of stem cells as the embryo develops during the early stages of pregnancy. At around 120 days from conception, during the formative stages of the fetus, stem cells begin the process of differentiation at which time they begin to transform into every other cell type in the body such as heart, muscle, nerve, bone, etc. This process continues throughout the final stages of pregnancy until birth. Throughout adult life, our bodies continue to produce stem cells that serve as a vital source of regeneration and repair.

I hypothesized that menstrual fluid potentially contained a viable source of non-differentiated stem cells that may be utilized upon harvest, or cryopreserved for the future, to provide an ideal source for a vast range of regenerative stem cell therapies. Given lifetime experiences with our “Monthly Miracle®”, there is something very powerful about the focused, collaborative and innovative chemistry of women. I explored the concept with Dr. Julie Allickson, Cryo-Cell’s V.P. – R&D and Laboratory Operations, who partnered with me to design and develop protocols necessary to test this hypothesis.  Little did we know at the time that we were about to discover what may possibly become a seismic breakthrough in stem cell science. Menstrual flow contains millions of unique and amazing adult stem cells that demonstrate properties similar to bone marrow and embryonic stem cells. These stem cells multiply rapidly and have potential to differentiate into possibly every other cell type in the human body.  Is it conceivable that C’elle® menstrual stem cells could potentially become the Holy Grail of stem cells?
In November, 2007 Cryo-Cell announced its discovery of novel stem cell technology and launched the world’s first-ever commercial service allowing women to collect and cryopreserve their own menstrual stem cells for future therapeutic use by the donor or possibly a first-degree relative. The proprietary service, C’elle, is protected by Cryo-Cell’s expansive intellectual property portfolio and C’elle patent pending worldwide technology. Cryo-Cell has executed research partnerships with several leading stem cell researchers who initiated promising preclinical (non-human) studies to develop therapies to potentially treat diabetes, cardiac, stroke, vascular regeneration and breast cancer. We invite you to visit our website at www.Celle.com to subscribe to this exclusive cutting edge service that may potentially impact your life or loved ones as future therapies emerge.

I welcome you to Cryo-Cell’s CEO Blog. I hope this blog will provide a candid and meaningful forum to share ideas and debate opinions about stem cells. As a stem cell industry insider since 2000, I’ve observed unprecedented growth and transformation of stem cells and regenerative medicine in the context of public awareness and opinion. Cryo-Cell is a pioneer in non-controversial stem cells; however, much of the intense controversy and debate about stem cell research is focused on the embryonic stem cell (ESC).

Opponents of ESC research argue that a human embryo is a human life and is therefore entitled to protection. They also believe that ESC technology may potentially lead to reproductive cloning that stands to devalue human life. Advocates of ESC research on the other hand argue that this research should be supported because it may possibly lead to development of therapies that may treat conditions and diseases for which there are currently no cures. Citing an estimated inventory of more than 500,000 frozen embryos created in the U.S. alone for in-vitro fertilization (IVF) since the late 1980s as IVF became mainstream, ESC research advocates suggest that with appropriate consent and ethical oversight, donated embryos may provide a viable source of stem cells for stem cell research and potential future therapeutic applications.

During the first three months of 2009 alone, there are three major developments that will likely have profound influence on public policy and opinion regarding the future of stem cell research. President Obama signed an Executive Order on March 9th reversing the 2001 Executive Order banning federal funds for embryonic stem cell research. Geron Corporation announced on January 29th that FDA granted clearance of the world’s first study of human ESC-based therapy to treat patients with spinal cord injury; and on January 26th Nadia Suleman gave birth to octuplets through assisted reproductive technology-- influenced in part by the view that her frozen embryos should not be destroyed. Current events related to the intense ESC debate will continue to unfold and shape public opinion, policy and practice.

Whatever your personal view may be about the stem cell debate, there is indisputable evidence that stem cells save lives. Since the first cord blood stem cell transplant in 1988, an estimated 10,000 cord blood transplants have occurred worldwide. In 1992, Cryo-Cell International became the pioneer in private family cord blood banking and we believe that our non-controversial signature U-Cord® service offers superior quality and the best value in the industry. Cryo-Cell has served over 175,000 clients worldwide and many of our early clients are now nearly young adults. In November 2007, Cryo-Cell introduced a revolutionary and proprietary new service, C’elle, empowering women to collect and cryopreserve their own menstrual stem cells for future potential therapies. In an upcoming blog, I will share the Cryo-Cell story of our fascinating discovery of C’elle and discuss some inspiring insights on how stem cell innovation may serve to impact your life and the lives of those you love in the future.