Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area Establishes the First Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cell Bank in China

Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area Establishes the First Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cell Bank in China

April 26, 2006

    TIANJIN, China, April 26 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Tianjin
Economic-Technological Development Area announced today that
the first Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cell Bank in
China, an important component of the national stem cell
system project, has been established in Tianjin University
Science Park in the Tianjin Economic-Technological
Development Area.  This achievement follows on from the
establishment and opening of the most advanced stem cell
bank, with the largest Umbilical Cord Blood Hemopoietic
Stem Cell Bank, in 2001.

    The new bank will considerably improve the diagnosis
and treatment of stem cell products for malignant
hemopathies, immunodeficiency diseases, hereditary
diseases, and malignant tumors etc., and will accelerate
conversion of achievements of stem cell-related
technologies and genetic engineering-related research into
practical productive forces, marking that our nation's
industrialization of stem cell engineering products has
climbed to new heights.

¡¡¡¡  Mesenchymal stem cells formerly needed marrow
sampling for separation, culture and collection, but
research personnel at Tianjin AmCellGene Engineering Co.,
Ltd. and the National Engineering Research Center of Cell
Products have succeeded in separating large amounts of
mesenchymal stem cells from umbilical cords; and proved
that mesenchymal stem cells from umbilical cords, compared
with mesenchymal stem cells from marrow, have stronger
increment abilities and lower immunological rejections, and
the umbilical cord features broad resources and convenient
material drawing while causing no harm to the donor,
therefore having obvious clinical advantages.

    This newly established Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem
Cell Bank has been approved as a project by the National
Development and Reform Commission.  Its total reserve
capacity of Phase I is 40,000 sets with a daily treatment
capacity of 20 sets; the total reserve capacity of Phase II
is expected to be over 500,000 sets with a daily treatment
capacity of more than 300 sets.  The stem cell treatment
center is built strictly according to standards of Good
Manufacturing Practice and Quality Control, having around
760 square meters of class 10,000 and local class 100
highly clean areas; main instruments and equipment are all
world class products; typing laboratory of the stem cell
bank is equipped in strict accordance with standards
concerning gene diagnosis laboratories issued by the
Ministry of Health, reaching domestic first class HLA
typing laboratory levels.

    About Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area
(TEDA)

    Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA)
was established in 1984 with the approval of the State
Council of the People's Republic of China.  It is one of
the first state-class economic-technological development
areas in the country. 

    TEDA is located in the center of a larger area
bordering Bohai Sea and the east of the Asia-Europe Land
Bridge, thus serving as the gate to the two super cities of
Beijing and Tianjin, and the throat connecting the northeast
of China.  By the end of 2005, 4,067 foreign companies have
landed in TEDA.  Of the Fortune 500 companies, 57
multinational companies, from 10 countries and regions,
including such well-established multinational giants as
Motorola, Samsung and Toyota, invested in 123 enterprises
in TEDA.  In 2000, "Fortune" listed TEDA as one
of the most highly recommended economic areas in China.  In
2002 UNIDO listed TEDA as one of the most dynamic areas of
China together with Shenzhen, Suzhou, Wenzhou, Shanghai
Pudong and Xi'an High-tech Park.

    For more information, please contact:

     Ding Lei
     Tel:   [phone]

     Xu Hui
     Tel:   [phone]

     Web:   http://www.investteda.org

SOURCE  Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area