National Marrow Donor Program Secures Key Contracts From U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration
Posted on: Wednesday, 27 September 2006, 15:01 CDT
MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the National Marrow Donor Program(R) (NMDP) announced it has been awarded three contracts by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). These contracts will allow the NMDP to continue and expand critical work together with HRSA to serve patients in need of a marrow or cord blood transplant.
Under the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program, enacted by Congress in 2005, the NMDP will continue to serve as a single point of access for transplant patients through its role as the Bone Marrow Coordinating Center and the Office of Patient Advocacy. In addition, the NMDP was awarded the contract to act as the nation's Cord Blood Coordinating Center. Earlier this month the NMDP's research partner, the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR), was awarded the contract to collect and analyze marrow and blood cell transplant outcomes data to help improve these transplants for patients.
The announcement comes at a time of tremendous growth in transplant therapy. "This year alone, the NMDP saw a 20 percent increase in the number of transplants, as well as a 100 percent increase in the use of cord blood as a treatment for both children and adults," said Michael Boo, NMDP strategic development officer. Since its founding in 1986 the NMDP has provided 25,000 patients with a second chance at life.
"The new contracts allow the NMDP to assume new responsibilities, particularly in the areas of research and cord blood transplantation," said Jeffrey Chell, M.D., NMDP chief executive officer. "Working closely with HRSA, we will continue to serve thousands of patients who are in desperate need of a transplant. From searching the NMDP Registry of volunteers and cord blood units, to supporting patients and their doctors through the transplant process and working with researchers to improve patient outcomes, the NMDP continues its mission to help save lives."
The federal program also will provide federal funding to multiple cord blood banks to increase the number of cord blood units available for matches with the long-term goal of providing an additional 150,000 cord blood units for public use. "The creation of a national cord blood program provides great opportunity in the treatment of many life-threatening blood disorders," said U.S. Rep. C. W. Bill Young (R- Fla.), for whom the program is named. "The increase in cord blood units provides additional options for patients and their doctors, particularly for minority patients."
Young, an internationally recognized leader in increasing support and funding for biomedical research, was instrumental in founding the NMDP after learning that a national registry could provide potentially life-saving treatment for those diagnosed with leukemia and other blood diseases. The congressman and his wife became aware of the need for marrow transplantation while helping a child from their district. Young initiated the marrow donation effort with $2 million appropriated to the U.S. Navy's marrow transplantation research program. From 1999 to 2005, Young served as chairman of the Appropriations Committee, during which time he successfully led the effort in Congress to double federal medical research funding over five years for a variety of needs, including blood diseases. The program's name recognizes Young's critical contribution in initiating and supporting this national program on behalf of thousands of patients needing transplants each year and for helping to pass the legislation creating the cord blood program and reauthorizing the bone marrow registry.
About the National Marrow Donor Program
The NMDP facilitates unrelated marrow and blood cell transplants as a single point of access for a long-standing collaborative network of national and international leading medical facilities in marrow and cord blood transplantation. The NMDP connects patients, doctors, donors and researchers to the resources they need to help more people live longer and healthier lives. The NMDP Center for Cord Blood continues to grow and give hope to more patients through new partnerships with cord blood banks and cooperative registries, funding of cord blood recruitment, and initiatives to increase access and improve outcomes. For more information about the NMDP, call 1-800-MARROW-2 or visit http://www.marrow.org/ .
National Marrow Donor Program
CONTACT: Regan Hall Reinerth, NMDP, +1-612-884-8515, or Cell:+1-612-280-5446
Web site: http://www.marrow.org/
Source: PRNewswire
Related Articles
- Low blood pressure aids dialysis patients
- Radiation Therapy Oncology Group and US Oncology Enter Collaboration to Increase Patient Access to National Clinical Trials
- Northeastern University College of Business Alum Chosen 2008 SBA National Young Entrepreneur of the Year
- Indiana Health Information Exchange Program Receives National Honor
- National Cancer Research Institute, Japan Validate Predictive Biomarkers on a Clinical Scale Using Nonlinear Dynamics' SameSpots Technology
- Illumina Infinium BeadChips Selected By Germany's National Genome Research Network to Support One of the World's Largest Genetic Disease Studies to Date
- German National Genome Research Network to Analyze More Than 17,000 DNA Samples Using Affymetrix Technology
- National Young Adult Cancer Awareness Week(R) 2007
- National Disease Research Interchange Appoints Broxmeyer Board Chairman
- National Disease Research Interchange Receives Funding Commitment for Rare Disease Initiative
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds