StemCyte Announces New Strategic Partnership with Sharp HealthCare

COVINA, Calif., Oct. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- California-based StemCyte, Inc. is proud to announce a new strategic partnership with Sharp HealthCare, which includes California's largest birthing hospital, Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns.  More than 16,000 births occur each year in this network with over 8,400 births annually at Sharp Mary Birch alone.  The timing could not be better given California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent signing into law Assembly Bill 52, designed to boost Umbilical Cord Blood collections in the state.  Authored by Assemblyman Anthony Portantino (D-Canada Flintridge), an ardent supporter of increasing cord blood banking efforts, this legislation will enhance resources for collection, processing and banking of this vital potentially life-saving resource of adult stem cells as well as their availability for new research.

"At Sharp Mary Birch we work diligently to offer our patients and families choices that enhance their birthing experience and know that preparing for future needs is of great importance to new families," said Mary Henrikson, CEO of Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns.  "Through our partnership with StemCyte, the State and the University of California, we are excited to support our families while also demonstrating our collective ability to help bolster the availability of Umbilical Cord Blood stem cells for life-saving therapies and research in California."

StemCyte is one of the world's preeminent cord blood banks and biotherapies companies, and the original "hybrid" company offering both private and public cord blood banking options.  StemCyte has long supported the overall mission of creating a functioning public cord blood collection program in California.  Boosting umbilical cord blood collections is critical not only for the future of potentially life-saving transplants, but also for the availability of further cutting-edge therapy research.  StemCyte is currently supporting Stroke and Spinal Cord Injury, and HIV research efforts with globally renowned medical researchers.

California is rich in the resources necessary to make this goal a reality.  As evidenced by the collaborative effort with the physician community through American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the California medical community actively supports the important public collection initiative in California law.  Steps to make this effort happen must include educating the public about their options and coordinating with key hospitals in the State that have diverse and high volume birthing centers.  As a California-based public-private cord blood banking company and with a strong research focus, StemCyte stands ready to help efficiently and effectively put these precious taxpayer dollars to work in California.  They are partnered with California hospitals and healthcare partners to educate the expecting parents of their options, to ensure the information is delivered accurately and consistently, to collect the cells in cord blood, process and store them to the highest credentials in the industry.  StemCyte is looking forward to leveraging its existing resources with its California partners to maximize the capacity for banking more units in its high caliber lab.  Residents of California and people around the world will benefit from the research and increased availability of Umbilical Cord Blood stem cell transplant units.

"We are eager to work with the Sharp HealthCare hospital group, and in the future, the State and University of California to increase overall collections and assure the new law is implemented efficiently, drawing on the strengths of assets already deployed in the State," said Calvin Cole, StemCyte's President, North America.  "StemCyte looks forward to collaborating with major hospital partners and physician groups to enable this new statewide effort to become reality as soon as possible.  We already have research units of cells we can deploy to support California based scientists to address those objectives of the new law. We commend Assemblyman Portantino and his supporters for their commitment to seeing this through."

About StemCyte, Inc.

Located in the US, India and Taiwan, StemCyte has established one of the largest, most racially diverse, and highest quality cord blood stem cell banks in the world.  StemCyte has supplied over 1,300 cord blood products for over 40 life-threatening diseases to over 200 leading worldwide transplant centers.  StemCyte is actively involved in the development of new umbilical cord blood-based cell therapies.  They are supporting the largest clinical study for using unrelated cord blood transplantation for thalassemia, one of the most common genetic diseases in the world, and supporting the developments of trials investigating regenerative spinal cord therapies.  They are the only for-profit company contracted by the US Department of HHS to establish a public National Cord Blood Inventory for unrelated transplant units.  Its headquarters are located in Covina, Ca. and Ewing, NJ.  To learn more visit www.StemCyte.com.

SOURCE CAPITAL ADVOCATES, LLC