First FDA-approved product from umbilical cord cells

The FDA has just given its first green light to a therapy which uses human blood stem cells from the placenta and the umbilical cord. This new therapy aims to treat people with disorders affecting the hematopoietic (blood forming) system, hematologic malignant tumors, genetic primary immunodeficiency diseases or even bone marrow deficiency, etc.

These types of blood cells, called progenitor cells, are infused into the patient and migrate to the bone marrow where they divide and mature. Moving around in the blood system, they help to construct new cells and restore the immune functions of the existing cells.