Draft Fourth Edition of Cord Blood Standards Available for Public Comment

NetCord and the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy have published the Fourth Edition of the NetCord-FACT International Standards for Cord Blood Collection, Processing, Testing, Banking, Selection, and Release for inspection and public comment for a 90-day period. Comments will be accepted from July 1, 2009, through September 28, 2009. Click here for more information.

American Society for Apheresis (ASFA) to host FACT Webinar

The American Society for Apheresis (ASFA) is hosting a webinar regarding FACT requirements on June 17, 2009, at 12:00 noon ET. This webinar provides a review of the 4th edition Cellular Therapy Standards and a discussion of common deficiencies cited during FACT inspections. Emphasis will be placed on Collection Facility requirements, but the webinar will also include some overview of Clinical Program and Processing Facility requirements. Visit the ASFA website to register for this educational opportunity.

FACT Accredits First Transplant Program in Australia

Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital including the Royal Children’s Hospital Bone Marrow Transplant Program is the first transplant program outside of North America to receive FACT accreditation. Under the direction of Dr. Simon Durrant, Royal Brisbane is the largest adult and pediatric transplant program in Australia.

FACT Announces First Quarter Accreditations

One new blood and marrow transplant program earned accreditation and seven additional facilities received accreditation renewal during the first quarter of 2009. See the list of recently accredited facilities.

FACT Annual Accreditation Fees

FACT will begin assessing cellular therapy accreditation fees on an annual basis starting July 1, 2009. Although FACT fees have not been adjusted since 2000, the new annual fees contain a modest increase and continue to remain competitive with fees charged by other accrediting bodies. The annual fees will cover one year of FACT accreditation for all aspects of cellular therapy endeavors, including Clinical Programs in addition to cell collection and processing. The annual fees also include inspection costs, year-round assistance, and access to resources such as quality management tools, press kit materials, publications, guidelines, webinars, tutorials, and round-table discussions.  

These smaller, routine annual expenditures will assist programs during the annual budgeting process and avoid large, unplanned fees at the beginning of each new accreditation cycle. No additional fees will be charged at the time of a program’s renewal inspection.

In keeping with FACT’s objective of continuous improvement, this revised fee schedule is a collegial approach to structuring the cost of FACT accreditation in a manner aligned with Cellular Therapy Programs’ budgeting processes.

2009 Annual Cellular Therapy Fees for FACT Accreditation:

Note: The full program fee includes one clinical site, one marrow collection site, one peripheral blood progenitor cell collection site, and one processing facility. Programs comprised of additional sites will be charged the supplemental fee. Partial programs will be assessed fees based on the component parts (e.g. a processing facility will incur an annual fee of $4,550).

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