Cryopak's Project on a Cord Blood Shipper Designed for Duke University was Published in the July Issue of Time Magazine
EDISON, NJ - September 9, 2010 -- cryopak.com - Cryopak, the leader and innovator in temperature controlled products, worked with Carolinas Cord Blood Bank at Duke University to develop a Cord Blood Shipper that would maintain temperatures between 4°C-30°C for at least 36 hours. The project was covered in Time Magazine in the July 26th issue titled, "New Postpartum Trend: Mailing in Your Cord Blood" by Bonnie Rochman.
Time Magazine explained that, "Cord blood is a noncontroversial source of stem cells, yet experts estimate that 99 percent of this potentially lifesaving resource gets thrown away postpartum."
Time Magazine points out that although private cord-blood banks do exist they are charging anywhere from "$2,000 for initial processing and about $125 per year after that "but they only store cord blood that can be used by the donor's family." Public banks make their contents available to anyone who is a close-enough match.
"There are only 19 public banks in the U.S., however, and until recently the only way women could donate to them was to give birth in one of the 175 or so affiliated hospitals that have a system in place to collect and transfer cord blood," Time Magazine states.
This is where the new kits, developed by Cryopak, come in. "Three hospitals - two in Texas, one in North Carolina - are piloting a federal program that allows women to mail in cord blood from anywhere in the continental U.S. for inclusion in Be the Match, the national cord-blood registry," Time Magazine explains.
"This kit was designed so that no pre-conditioning was required for the system to function properly," Anthony Alleva, Technical Services Manager at Cryopak, said. "The kits can be stored inside the expectant mother's home and carried to the hospital on their delivery date."
The doctor's will then load the system with the required blood collection bag and tubes to be sent back to Carolinas Cord Blood Bank for storage.
Each kit was designed with an outer returnable plastic shell so that the systems could be reused numerous times and provides ample protection during transportation.
"This kit is very unique in that it uses Cryopak's new PIR panels and Exo-Gel(TM) Panel to maintain the required temperature ranges," Alleva, said.
Cryopak also designed a water filled pouch using their Flexible Ice Blanket(TM) to completely enclose the collected blood material and effectively prevent any leaks and provide more protection to the collected blood samples.
About The TCP Family of Companies
The TCP Family of Companies is a complete packaging integrity solutions provider servicing life science industries. The TCP Family consists of Cryopak, the leading manufacturer of cold chain related products, DDL, the leader in product, material and package validation testing for the medical device and biopharmaceutical industries and ATP, the leading provider of cold chain compliance solutions and software for the lifescience industry and healthcare organizations. The TCP Family handles your packaging projects with the paramount goal of helping you get your product to market faster while maintaining the integrity of your products.
Contact:
William Hingle
Marketing Director
whingle@tcpreliable.com
732-346-9200 ext. 104
