Allendale, NJ - Community Blood Services has entered into a licensing agreement with AuxoCell Laboratories, Inc. to use AuxoCell’s exclusive patent rights and propriety process to extract fetal mesenchymal stem cells from the Wharton’s Jelly of donated umbilical cords, allowing Community Blood Services to operate the first Wharton’s Jelly derived stem cell bank in the United States.

The bank will store primitive, fetal mesenchymal stem cells from the gelatinous portion of donated umbilical cords, known as Wharton’s Jelly, for potential research and therapeutic use.

AuxoCell Laboratories, Inc., a Massachusetts-based biotechnology company, holds the exclusive rights to a patented process which extracts stem cells from the Wharton’s Jelly of a volunteer donor after the birth of a healthy baby. The licensing agreement with AuxoCell will allow Community Blood Services to utilize AuxoCell’s patent rights and proprietary technology to process the fetal mesenchymal stem cells collected during a baby’s delivery. Those cells will be stored alongside umbilical cord blood stem cells already being collected and stored in Community Blood Services’ public bank in Allendale - the New Jersey Cord Blood Bank.

“While in its infancy, technology using mesenchymal stem cells is very exciting. Scientists are only beginning to unravel the interaction between mesenchymal stem cells and stem cells, and to discover the potential use of these types of stem cells,” said Dr. Dennis Todd, president and chief executive officer at Community Blood Services. “Our agreement with AuxoCell will allow us to provide these cells to technical researchers around the world so they are available for early stages of research in bone marrow transplantation and regenerative medicine.”

Mesenchymal stem cells are found in high concentration within the Wharton’s Jelly in a baby’s umbilical cord. These unique, non-embryonic stem cells have the potential to grow into different types of tissues, such as muscle, bone, cartilage and adipose cells (fat). The cells can potentially be used in tissue engineering, as well as for treatment of a host of diseases. And since they are non-immunogeneic they are less likely to be rejected by the patient following transplantation.

“AuxoCell is very excited to be working with Community Blood Services and their staff of highly trained scientists to build both an inventory of research and therapeutic Wharton’s Jelly specimens. The Wharton’s Jelly stem cell is a very exciting cell and will play a leading role in cell-based regenerative medicine therapies, “said Kyle Cetrulo, chief operating officer at Auxocell Laboratories, Inc.

“Through this partnership with the New Jersey Cord Blood Bank, we plan on making it possible for researchers around the world to study the therapeutic potential of Wharton’s Jelly stem cells by delivering a GMP grade cellular product, allowing for direct translation from the bench to the bedside,” Cetrulo said.

Dr. Arnold Rubin, professor of medicine at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey and a member of Community Blood Services’ scientific and medial advisory council, also heralded the importance of the collaboration.

“The technique worked out by AuxoCell laboratories is unique. We will be able to isolate these cells and provide them to laboratories attempting to utilize them for important biological processes,” Dr. Rubin said.

“There is obviously considerable excitement over the use of these types of mesenchymal cells. They may be very useful in the regeneration of tissues either lacking or missing in certain diseases, and also may grow into connective tissue, or even other cells, to help support nerve growth and bone marrow growth,” Dr. Rubin added. “They may even combat graft versus host disease, which remains the scourge of bone marrow transplantation causing disease and death in many of these patients.”

About AuxoCell Laboratories, Inc. – AuxoCell Laboratories, Inc., a Massachusetts biotechnology company, is a leading stem cell therapeutic and regenerative medicine company. AuxoCell's primary research focus is to develop the enormous therapeutic potential of the primitive stem cells found in the Wharton's Jelly of the human umbilical cord. Through strategic partnerships with universities, stem cell centers, and research laboratories around the world, AuxoCell strives every day to bring novel stem cell therapies from the bench to the bedside. www.auxocelllabs.com