San Antonio, Texas, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- South Texas Blood & Tissue has received accreditation of its Apheresis Center by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT), which sets worldwide standards for care in cellular therapy.
Since 2009, the Apheresis Center has been collecting peripheral blood stem cell donations for the treatment of leukemia, lymphoma and other blood disorders. The FACT accreditation is for peripheral blood cellular therapy product collection.
“We wanted to achieve FACT accreditation for South Texas Blood & Tissue to reinforce the high standards of excellence that our center delivers and to better support our customers in the field of cell therapy,” said Adrienne Mendoza, Chief Operating Officer of South Texas Blood & Tissue, a subsidiary of San Antonio nonprofit BioBridge Global.
“We believe FACT accreditation is an important prerequisite to a clinical program in this field, and our donors and patients can be assured that our facility achieves the highest quality care in cell therapy treatment programs.”
FACT, which is based at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, is an internationally recognized accrediting body for hospitals and medical institutions offering stem cell transplant. A FACT accreditation indicates that South Texas Blood & Tissue has met the most rigorous standards in peripheral blood cellular therapy product collection.
FACT standards are set by international teams of experts who are dedicated to the improvement and progress of cellular therapy.
Standards are developed by consensus within committees consisting of knowledgeable clinicians, scientists, technologists and quality experts in cell manufacturing. International leaders in cellular therapy programs, cord blood banks, and registries serve on the Standards Development committees.
Liaison representation from consumers and regulatory bodies are consulted throughout the development process.
About South Texas Blood & Tissue: South Texas Blood & Tissue (STB&T) is a nonprofit community blood center that provides blood, plasma, platelets and other blood components to 100 hospitals in 48 South Texas counties. It is the largest blood supplier in our region. In addition, STB&T supports the development of advanced therapies, including those derived from donated human cells and tissues used in research and in new therapies and cures for cancers and degenerative diseases. Through the generous life-legacy gifts of human tissue, STB&T also supports development of tissue allografts for patients in need of reconstructive surgery, repair or tissue regeneration. STB&T has a 47-year history serving the South Texas community and is part of the BioBridge Global family of nonprofit organizations, which offers services in regenerative medicine and research including blood banking and resource management; cellular therapy; umbilical cord blood collection and storage; donated human tissue recovery and distribution for transplant; and testing of blood and plasma products to help patients in the United States and worldwide. STB&T has eight donor centers in South Texas and conducts hundreds of mobile blood drives each year. STB&T is online at SouthTexasBlood.org.
About BioBridge Global: BioBridge Global (BBG) is a San Antonio-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit regenerative medicine enterprise that offers diverse services through its subsidiaries – South Texas Blood & Tissue, QualTex Laboratories, GenCure and The Blood & Tissue Center Foundation. BBG provides products and services in blood resource management, cellular therapy, donated umbilical cord blood and human tissue, as well as testing of blood, plasma and tissue products for clients in the United States and worldwide. BBG is committed to saving and enhancing lives through the healing power of human cells and tissue. It enables advances in the field of regenerative medicine by providing access to human cells and tissue, testing services and biomanufacturing and clinical trials support. Learn more at BioBridgeGlobal.org.
About FACT: In December 1994, the International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT) and the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (ASBMT) merged their Standards into a single document covering all aspects of hematopoietic cell therapy (collection, processing, and transplantation). The two societies established FACT in order to develop a voluntary Inspection and Accreditation Program based on the joint Standards. FACT promotes quality medical and laboratory practice of cellular therapy through its peer-developed standards and voluntary inspection and accreditation program.
In 2006, FACT, in collaboration with the Joint Accreditation Committee–ISCT & EBMT (JACIE), developed international standards in the field of cellular therapy. JACIE was founded by the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) and the International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT), the two leading scientific organizations involved with cellular transplantation in Europe.
Since 2007, FACT accreditation has been used in determining the U.S. News & World report rankings of transplant centers for the "America's Best Hospitals" and "America's Best Children's Hospitals" list.
The FACT Inspection and Accreditation Program was developed by Dr. Phyllis Warkentin, Chief Medical Officer of FACT, the FACT Board of Directors, as well as the ISCT and ASBMT Regulatory and Standards Committees. The first edition of the FACT Standards was published in September 1996, and the first inspections began in September of 1997 resulting in the first program being awarded accreditation in 1998.
