Taburit wins Sheba cord blood bank tender

Taburi cord blood bank Edward Stern
Taburi cord blood bank Edward Stern

Taburit founded Sheba Medical Center's umbilical cord private blood bank after pioneering the field, and has been operating the blood bank since.

Taburit, which operates the cord blood bank at Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer in Israel, has won the tender to operate the bank for an additional 10 years. Taburit, which founded the private umbilical cord blood bank at Sheba Medical Center, was the pioneer in the field 15 years ago, and has operated the hospital's blood bank since then. After several other companies withdrew from the sector, Taburit and Ta Lachaim (Medifreeze) are now the only two private cord blood bank operators in hospitals in Israel. Both companies competed for the tender, while Taburit ultimately won, while Ta Lechaim was disqualified after not agreeing to meet the terms of the tender.

In July 2019, after 15 years in which Taburit operated the private blood bank service at Sheba, the hospital's Research Fund and Health Services published a tender for marketing services for the bank. The tender dictated many complex scientific requirements regarding strict regulatory rules, in everything regarding management of a private cord blood bank and collecting units of umbilical cord blood.

Taburit met all the terms of the tender including all the various medical and regulatory requirements.

The letter from Sheba's research fund rewarding the tender stated that only Taburit agreed to and successfully met the terms set out in the tender. The letter also stated that, "Taburit, the winner in the tender, which has worked with the medical center for more than 15 years, will continue to implement the activities of collecting and marketing for the Sheba Medical Center - the largest hospital in the country, which possesses the biggest cord blood bank in Israel."

Taburit is currently signing a new contract with the management of the hospital's research fund and health services.

Taburit CEO Tali Pelz said, "Winning the tender for managing the cord blood bank is a vote of confidence in the high professional capabilities of the company and the enormous experience that Taburit has gained over the past 15 years. We will continue to provide the best service for the Israeli public, through the mission and belief that biological insurance of this kind enables the saving and improvement of lives."

Taburit - The Central Bank for Cord Blood Ltd. is the exclusive marketing arm of the cord blood bank services operated by the Sheba Medical Center through the Sheba Medical Center Research Fund and Health Services. Taburit is authorized to collect units of cord blood and bring them for preservation in the cord blood bank at Sheba. All the units of cord blood collected by Taburit's services are processed, frozen, and preserved in Taburi's cord blood bank at Sheba. From the moment that the cord blood arrives at the medical center, the Taburit blood bank at Sheba is responsible for handling the units of blood in the bank. In addition to collecting and preserving the cord blood, Taburit provides its customers with an insurance policy that offers broad coverage for every patient using stem cells for a period of 15 years. As part of this policy, Taburit provides coverage for all the costs related to the use of the stem cell doses in all diseases in which the treatment is considered standard (not trials) without listing the defined diseases ahead of time.

Private cord blood banks allow parents to keep the umbilical blood of the children, which are rich in embryonic stem cells, in order to be used in the event of the need for stem cell transplants that are a good match for the patient. The area is defined as cord blood "insurance" with the payment for keeping the blood costing several thousand shekels for the lifetime of the patient. A unit of cord blood which is personally kept can match a patient with blood cancer, mainly in children, and its matching to the immune system is optimal, compared with cord blood from another person. In the future, cord blood might also serve other medical uses.

Israeli company Gamida Cell, which last October announced positive Phase III results for the treatment of blood cancers using bone marrow transplants, is soon expected to launch a product that improves the chances of also being able to treat blood cancer in adults using cord blood. This new development would positively influence the worthwhileness of keeping cord blood.

Sheba Medical Center is cooperating in this field with the research of several companies in addition to Gamida Cell, which are examining the options for expanding use of cord blood in stem cells. In recent years, for example, clinical research has examined use of umbilical cord blood in procedures for treating autism, paralysis of the brain and congenital heart problems in children.

Sheba has the only bank in the country that has been awarded authorization and is under the supervision of the American Association of Blood Banks and a member of the world organization for bone marrow transplants from other donors - the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) and operates according to the strictest standards in the world - meeting the European FACT- NetCord standard.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 3, 2021

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2021

Taburi cord blood bank Edward Stern
Taburi cord blood bank Edward Stern
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