FamilyCord Announces Acquisition of Vista Cord

April 6, 2010 – FamilyCord, a subsidiary of California Cryobank, announced the recent asset acquisition of Vista Cord, a regional cord blood bank primarily servicing the southern US states. In conjunction with the FDA and cryogenic transport experts, FamilyCord has successfully relocated all cord blood units to their state-of-the-art facility in Los Angeles.

“We worked with the FDA to ensure the quality and integrity of the units was maintained at all times during the transport of the stem cells,” says Richard Jennings, President of FamilyCord. “We are very pleased to provide continued service to these families that may have otherwise lost access to their cord blood.”

In addition to the Vista Cord acquisition, Familycord recently unveiled the industry’s safest collection kit as part of their mission to redefine and improve the scientific standards for the cord blood banking industry.

“People are becoming more aware of the clinical benefits of cord blood stem cells,” explains Jennings. “While our hope is that you never need to use the cord blood, if that time should ever come, there is no substitute for scientifically superior collection, processing and storage.”

FamilyCord’s newly engineered collection kit is OSHA compliant and offers multiple benefits over the traditional “cardboard” kits, including built-in temperature stabilization that provides up to ten hours of protection (versus the 30 minutes of standard collection kits), and a reinforced liner providing more than 4 times the standard crush protection.

FamilyCord’s new kit also utilizes liquid CPD anticoagulant in the collection bag, which provides up to 58% more CD34+ stem cells than using the dry heparin (American Society of Hematology, 2009) and does not carry the historical risk associated with heparin.

“As more and more families continue to take advantage of cord blood banking, it is imperative that we as an industry do everything we can to ensure that investment is protected,” say Jennings.

Media contact: Scott Brown (310) 495-5681

Founded in 1997, FamilyCord is registered with the FDA and accredited by the AABB (American Association of Blood Banks). For more information, call 888-828-2673.