Progenics has a multi-level guarantee to assure parents that they will receive the highest quality cord blood banking service.

At most cord blood banks the average yield of total nucleated cells is approximately 80%, however, at Progenics, we guarantee that:

1. If the yield is less than 80%, you will be entitled to free cord blood banking, including free registration, processing, testing, and free storage for 18 years. All fees already paid to Progenics will be refunded to you.
2. If the yield is less than 95%, your annual storage fees will be reduced for 18 years (starting in the second year of storage).

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Total nucleated cells (TNC) are the most reliable indicator for a successful transplant (Moroff G et al. Transplantation and Cellular Engineering (46) 507-515, 2006). Please do not confuse TNC with CD34+ cells from some banks. The CD34+ cells do not represent the true stem cell population and in fact they are in the population of total nucleated cells. If we get all total nucleated cells, we can get all stem cells which are either CD34+ or CD34- cells. The stem cell count (CD34+ cells) has not been standardized yet and results vary from 3-5 times between different laboratories so it cannot be used as an indicator of banking quality. However, it is useful to assess cells before and after cryopreservation, so nearly all cord blood banks perform the CD34+ count.

In addition, if the volume of your baby's cord blood is below 40mLs and the count of total nucleated cells is less than 300x10⁶(before processing) then you will be entitled to a 50% discount on the annual storage fee for 18 years.

To assure parents of the quality of the processing and cryopreservation of cord blood, Progenics issues a processing quality certificate, the " Certificate of Cryopreservation." This certificate contains results for the most important factors that contribute to saving more cells from the same volume of cord blood:

1. High yield (recovery rate) of TNC.
2. Low concentration of contaminating red blood cells (a high concentration of red blood cells will damage up to 31% of stem cells during cryopreservation).

The certificate is the only one of its kind worldwide. It demonstrates that we are confident in the service we provide and that Progenics is the name parents should trust for their baby's cord blood storage.

Progenics' Certificate of Cryopreservation with our quality guarantee will be issued after the cord blood has been processed and all testing results have been received and meet the standards set by AABB and Health Canada. It takes approximately 4-6 weeks.

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Indicators of the quality of the banked cells are their suitability for use when they are needed in the future and the transplant success rate. Based on published clinical transplant outcomes, the suitability of a sample for transplant and the transplant success rate are determined by the number of total nucleated cells. The number of total nucleated cells is limited in cord blood, which may only contain enough cells for transplant to small (lower body weight) patients and may not be useful if more cells are lost during processing; therefore, saving more cells from the same volume of cord blood is essential and determines the quality of cord blood banking. This is critical for cord blood banks which bank cord blood for family use (Yang H et al Significance of efficient processing technique to family cord blood banks. Cytotherapy (2009) 11:18). Since there is almost no cell death during storage of cord blood in liquid nitrogen freezers for at least 20 years, the ability to save more cells is determined by two factors. These include obtaining a high yield of TNC (total nucleated cells) and a low concentration of contaminating red blood cells (removal of most of the red blood cells during processing). A high concentration of red blood cells will result in damage of up to 31% of stem cells during cryopreservation (during cooling before the cells are transferred to a liquid nitrogen freezer).

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