Gift of Life collaborates with bioengineering leader for bone marrow transplantation
An innovative bioengineering company in Indianapolis is pioneering a novel approach to bone marrow transplants to treat blood cancers and other life-threatening blood disorders.
Patients needing bone marrow transplants rely on living stem cell donors, but finding suitable matches can be challenging for patients without a suitable donor in their family.
Ossium Health is working to solve this critical healthcare challenge by leveraging a new source of stem cells: organ donors.
Its teams are collaborating with Gift of Life Michigan and other organ procurement organizations around the country to use bone marrow from deceased organ donors who have already been screened and deemed eligible for organ donation.
“Ossium’s efforts bridge the important work done by Gift of Life to a completely new field of medicine, expanding its impact and furthering each donor’s gift of life,” said Kevin Caldwell, Ossium’s CEO, co-founder and president.
Gift of Life screens organ donors to determine eligibility for bone marrow donation through Ossium’s process, then recovers the vertebrae from eligible donors and ships them to Ossium for processing. Ossium’s production and cryopreservation (freezing) processes ensure the cells maintain high functionality through storage at an ultra-low temperature.
Gift of Life screened 331 donors for Ossium last year and recovered vertebrae from 71 donors, earning Ossium’s award for Top Recovery Partner of the Year. Each donor has the potential to provide multiple doses of bone marrow, possibly saving multiple lives.
“Ossium’s work is groundbreaking and will touch countless patients and their families now and in the future,” said Bruce Nicely, VP of donation optimization at Gift of Life. “Its work in blood cancers will undoubtedly save lives. This company aligns with Gift of Life Michigan’s efforts to honor life through donation. Our donors and their heroic families have provided hope for the future, and we embrace the chance to help make it happen through our partnership with Ossium.”
Ossium recently initiated a clinical trial in collaboration with the organization that manages the National Marrow Donor Program. The study will evaluate and generate clinical data regarding the safety and efficacy of bone marrow (hematopoietic stem cell) transplants with organ donor-derived bone marrow.
This study is now enrolling patients with acute leukemias at transplant centers across the nation. After the first clinical trial, Ossium plans to initiate a long-term trial to build an even more robust clinical dataset that will enable its entry into the national bone marrow registry.
Since the initial studies can enroll a limited number of patients at approved clinical sites, Ossium launched its HOPE Program in May to provide bone marrow to patients unable to participate in the studies. Patients with blood disorders requiring a bone marrow transplant can receive a graft from Ossium’s bank. Those patients benefit from more donor options, immediate availability, and an optimized cell dose for their treatment.
For more information about Ossium’s HOPE Program, visit ossiumhealth.com/hope.
