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

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Almost no private cord blood banks (banks that store cord blood for families) are able to provide the recovery rate of CD34+ cells to each family, since it is not practical to perform a CD34+ count both before and after processing due to the higher cost and the waste of valuable cells for the test. More importantly, 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. It is useful, however, to assess cells before and after cryopreservation, so nearly all cord blood banks perform the CD34+ count. Progenics performs a CD34+ count and viability assessment on all cord blood samples after they are processed. 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.

In addition, if the collected volume of your baby’s cord blood is less than 20 mL, then you will be entitled to a 50% discount on the annual storage fee for 20 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).

To our knowledge, 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. After your baby is born, it takes approximately 4-6 weeks for you to receive your certificate.

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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 that 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 before the cells are transferred to a liquid nitrogen freezer and before the cord blood is thawed for transplant.