Press Releases

The House of Representatives voted 415-to-2 to pass the Timely Reauthorization of Necessary Stem-cell Programs Lends Access to Needed Therapies (TRANSPLANT) Act (H.R. 941), a bill introduced by Congresswoman Pingree (D-Maine) which reauthorizes the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program and the National Cord Blood Inventory for five years.

“Every year more than 17,000 people are diagnosed with illnesses where bone marrow and cord blood donations can quite literally save their lives,” said Congresswoman Pingree. “I’m incredibly proud that bipartisan legislation I helped to introduce passed the House with near unanimous support. This bill will help to secure and expand the work being done by the national donor registry and find matches for as many patients as we can.”

National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) operates the federally authorized program that matches unrelated volunteer bone marrow donors and cord blood units with patients who have been diagnosed with leukemia or over 70 otherwise fatal blood disorders and diseases. Never has the need to reauthorize the program been more important than now, during the COVID-19 pandemic and in a time of rapidly evolving science and innovation in cell therapy. Through renewed federal funding for the program, which includes the cord blood inventory, the TRANSPLANT Act ensures the continued, equal access provision of lifesaving transplants for patients in need of life-saving cellular therapy.

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