HemaCare Corporation (OTCBB: HEMA), a leading provider of human-derived primary blood cells and tissues for biomedical research, has announced a strategic partnership with and investment by a wholly-owned subsidiary of OneBlood, Inc., a not-for-profit blood center based in Florida.
"OneBlood is an industry-leading blood center that is known for its innovative and progressive approaches. Partnering with them provides HemaCare with an East Coast presence and at the same time brings validation of our evolution as a leading provider of a wide array of specialized blood products to the high growth biotechnology, pharmaceutical and academic research markets," said Pete van der Wal, Chief Executive Officer for HemaCare. "In addition, we are also honored to have Bud Scholl, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer for OneBlood, join the HemaCare Board of Directors and look forward to his strategic insight as we move forward," said van der Wal.
"The partnership with HemaCare was a natural fit," said Mr. Scholl. "We are excited to be a part of an initiative that is helping provide scientists and clinical researchers with what they need to find in the next generation of medical cures," said Scholl.
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About HemaCare
HemaCare specializes in the customization of human-derived biological products and services for customer's research and cell therapy protocols. HemaCare's network of FDA-registered, GMP/GTP-compliant collection centers ensures donor material is available for fresh shipment to customers, as well as for internal use within HemaCare's isolation laboratory. In this isolation laboratory, human biological material such as peripheral blood, bone marrow, and cord blood from donor and patient subjects, is isolated into various primary cells types for distribution to customers in fresh and frozen formats. HemaCare's extensive registry of well-characterized repeat donors provides consistent primary human cells and biological products for advanced biomedical research and cellular therapy process development.
For 39 years, HemaCare has provided human-derived primary blood cells and tissues for biomedical research, supported cell therapy clinical trials and commercialization with apheresis collections, and provided a wide range of consulting services. HemaCare directly supports benchtop immunology and oncology research, compound screening for drug discovery, and assay development and qualification, as well as enables customers to advance both autologous and allogeneic cellular therapies. For more information please visit www.hemacare.com.