Cord Blood Transplants Now Get Even Better With The Recent FDA Nod To Gamida’s Expanded Cord Blood Stem Cells: Omisirge®

Indian Patients Will Benefit Even More, Thanks To LifeCell's Community Bank Registry!

Stem cells are taking the pharmaceutical world by storm, and how! It is indeed a time to celebrate for all the stem cell enthusiasts out there. On 17th April 2023, Gamida Cell Ltd., a company pioneering in cell therapy, got approval from the U.S Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for their allogeneic cell therapy - Omisirge® (formerly known as Omidubicel, and before that as NiCord).

This stem cell therapy, a first of its kind, comprises expanded cord blood stem cells from the umbilical cord of newborns at birth wherein instead of being frozen as such, they are actually grown in the lab to increase their count multi-fold (>20x), thereby providing enough cells for transplant that lead to better outcomes.

Treatment with Omisirge® in adults as well as pediatric patients (12 years and older) diagnosed with hematological cancers was observed to specifically help with the following ^{1, 2}:

• Lesser time in hospital: Omisirge® engrafts significantly faster than bone marrow and standard cord blood units (12 days in comparison to 15-17 days when bone marrow is used and 22 days when standard cord blood is used), which in turn ensures patients spend less time at the hospital. 
• Reduced risk of infection: Lower incidence of microbial infections (39%) when compared to standard cord blood (60%).
• Broader reach: As more than 98% of the patients in the study had only a partial match, then this means that it could be used even by those patients who do not find a perfect stem cell match.

On this positive note, Mayur Abhaya, Managing Director and CEO, LifeCell International, congratulates the team at Gamida Cell Ltd. for this landmark achievement! Adding on, he says "this development has undoubtedly increased the use of cord blood stem cells, especially for patients of Indian origin who struggle to find a matched unit due to the limited number of listed donors. Expanded cord blood stem cells have been observed to help with faster recovery post-transplantation, reduced risk of infection, lesser time in hospital, and could be used by even those patients who do not find a perfect stem cell match.”

For starters, LifeCell is an Indian company which provides cord blood banking service to all the expectant parents interested in storing their child’s cord blood at birth. Under LifeCell’s Community Stem Cell Banking Program, you can bank your baby’s cord blood-derived stem cells at birth as a proactive step towards ensuring your little one a lifetime of health.

Our program offers undue benefits like:

• Access to a cord blood registry with 75,000+ stored units
• More than 97% chance of finding a match
• Unlimited retrieval of the stored stem cell units
• Financial assistance of up to Rs 20 Lakhs for transplant
• Extension of all these benefits to the baby’s siblings, parents, and grandparents (both maternal and paternal)

If you would like to know more about LifeCell’s Community Stem Cell Banking Program, you may call us at 1800 266 55 33, or click here.