Stemcyte®, Inc. receives accreditation from Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy
May 1, 2006 StemCyte has now provided cord blood units to over 130 transplant centers worldwide across 6 continents, and the number of units released for transplantation is rapidly increasing.
ARCADIA, Calif. (May 1, 2006)-StemCyte, Inc., a privately held stem cell therapy and cord blood bank, has received accreditation from the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) for its International Cord Blood Center in Arcadia, California. This accreditation means that the StemCyte International Cord Blood Center is now among a handful of cord blood banks to receive accreditation from the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB), the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), the College of American Pathologists (CAP), and Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) for allogeneic donations. The StemCyte International Cord Blood Center is now the first and the only cord blood bank in the world accredited by FACT for autologous donations.

'Under the direction of Dr. Lawrence Petz, StemCyte, Inc. in Arcadia, California has met the criteria set forth by the NETCORD-FACT International Standards for Cord Blood Collection, Processing, Testing, Banking, Selection and Release,' FACT announced on its website. Lawrence D. Petz, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, StemCyte International Cord Blood Center, and Emeritus Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UCLA Medical Center, states, 'This accreditation shows the high level of quality of our cord blood units that transplant physicians have come to depend on. Our more than 400 proprietary standard operating procedures for each cord blood unit yield consistently excellent one-year patient survival rates.' StemCyte, Inc. has now shipped 300 units to transplant centers around the world to treat patients with diseases such as leukemia, thalassemia and sickle cell disease.

'We are very pleased to receive accreditation from FACT,' says StemCyte's CEO Ken Giacin. 'The rigorous review by a team of top experts shows our laboratory facility to be truly world-class. We strive to be the largest, most genetically diverse, and highest quality cord blood bank in the world.'

To find out more visit StemCyte online at www.stemcyte.com.