Press Release
“Turning medical waste into medical miracles”Smith, lawmakers introduce bipartisan Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Reauthorization Act of 2025At a news conference today hosted by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), a panel of doctors and lawmakers launched the bipartisan Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Reauthorization Act of 2025 (HR 5160) and discussed its positive impacts on research, healthcare, and treatment in the United States. “We have introduced new legislation, HR 5160, which reauthorizes the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005—a law which I sponsored more than two decades ago,” Smith said. “This legislation will ensure that two collaborative programs—the bone marrow transplantation program and the National Cord Blood Inventory—can continue to provide treatments and therapies derived from adult stem cell lines and save lives.” “HR 5160 reauthorizes the bone marrow transplantation program at $165 million and the National Cord Blood Inventory program at $115 million over the course of five years,” Smith continued. Since its inception, the National Cord Blood Inventory has cumulatively banked more than 122,500 cord blood units to be tapped for life-saving treatments, and the National Marrow Donor Program has saved more than 140,000 lives through cell therapy. “These innovative programs can turn medical waste, such as afterbirth, into medical miracles. They offer life-saving and life-enhancing treatments that can help to mitigate and potentially cure more than 75 diseases, including leukemia, lymphoma and sickle cell anemia,” Smith stated. In addition to Smith, the conference was attended by Reps. Doris Matsui (D-CA) and Kweisi Mfume (D-MD), as well as Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg, M.D., of the Cord Blood Association (CBA), Marcus Center for Cellular Cures, and Carolinas Blood Bank at Duke Health, and Dr. Steven Devine, M.D., of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). “This is especially meaningful to me on a personal level because my late husband, Congressman Bob Matsui, was diagnosed with bone marrow failure. And at that time, there was no hope of getting a bone marrow transplant,” said Rep. Matsui. “That’s why I’m really happy that we introduced the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Reauthorization Act—to not only keep these programs going strong, but to make sure that no patient has to hear what my husband and I heard: that there are no options.” “What we do today in so many, many ways will affect what happens tomorrow. It’s not just in politics or sports, it’s really in science, where we can say that with some real semblance of surety – that what we do today will affect so, so many in the future,” stated Rep. Mfume. “This legislation will enable the NMDP to function, the outcomes registry to collect data on 700,000 transplants, cord blood banks to be established and thrive, and cord blood banks to be licensed by the FDA,” noted Dr. Kurtzberg. “This is research and care at the same time–and that’s how we’ve all made progress.” “I am grateful to be speaking alongside our bipartisan congressional champions, seeking the reauthorization of a critical lifeline for patients facing blood cancers and blood disorders. This program ensures that American patients in need can find a donor willing to give their healthy cells to save someone’s life,” concluded Dr. Devine.
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