SAN FRANCISCO, March 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — The Newborn
Possibilities Fund, a grantmaking program established by Cord
Blood Registry (CBR), today announced it will provide its
first-ever grant to the Georgia Health Sciences University
Foundation. The university’s medical center is conducting the
first FDA-regulated clinical trial evaluating cord blood stem cells
as a medical intervention for cerebral palsy. The grant will
provide financial support to help curb travel and other expenses
for families with a child participating in the trial.
The
study will include 40 children, ages 1 to 12 and will begin
with a neurological exam. Then, half of the study participants will
receive an infusion of their own cord blood while the other half
receives a placebo. Three months later, the children will be
evaluated without physicians knowing which group received the stem
cell infusion. Afterward, children who didn’t get their cord blood
initially will receive an infusion. Children in the study will
return three and six months later for evaluation, where researchers
will assess their motor skills and neurological development.
“This is a very well-designed clinical study that will provide
new insights into the potential of cord blood stem cells to help
children recover from nerve tissue damage to the brain,” said
Heather Brown, vice president of scientific and medical affairs at
CBR. “However, the study design requires a family to make trips at
their own expense to the study center. The goal of The
Newborn Possibilities Fund is to remove financial barriers that may
prevent eligible children from participating in this cutting-edge
research and receiving investigational treatments that may improve
their quality of life.”
The
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