Washington, DC - Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay (D) Missouri, joined with NBA Hall of Famer Julius “Dr. J” Erving to urge the U.S. Senate to pass S.1317, which would authorize the creation of a national system for cord blood banking and transplantation.  The House version of the bill, which Mr. Clay co-sponsored, passed earlier this year by a vote of 431 – 1.

 “This bill will provide federal dollars to add 150,000 additional units of umbilical cord blood which would be available for research and transplantation.  It will also establish a comprehensive national system to coordinate access to cord blood and adult bone marrow, which will allow more Americans to receive life-savings treatments,” said Clay. 

Many patients are unable to find a match for treatments involving cord blood or bone marrow, because they have rare tissue traits.  And this problem is especially acute among specific racial and ethnic groups.  “Some minorities have less than a 50% chance of obtaining a potentially life-saving stem cell transplant,” said Mr. Erving.  “Our goal is to raise that percentage to 90% by providing more federal funds to significantly increase umbilical cord blood stem cell inventories.”

The St. Louis Cord Blood Bank, which is the second largest cord blood facility in the world, is located on the Saint Louis University Campus at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital.  It is an international leader in pioneering treatments that involve the transplantation of cord blood stem cells and bone marrow. 

Donna Regan, a spokesman for the SLCBB commented, “By increasing our inventories of cord blood, we will be able to expand the application for medical therapies and treat more conditions such as spinal cord injuries and Parkinson’s Disease.”