AlloSource Expands National Presence Through New Partnership With Non-profit Tissue Bank, LifeGift

News provided by

Jun 13, 2012, 11:18 ET

Corporate Member relationship will further support AlloSource's leadership in the healthcare industry

CENTENNIAL, Colo., June 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AlloSource, one of the nation's leading non-profit providers of skin, bone and soft tissue allografts for use in surgical procedures and the world's largest processor of cellular bone growth substitutes, today announced that LifeGift in Houston, Texas will join AlloSource as its newest Corporate Member.

The AlloSource business model is unique in tissue banking. While other tissue processors simply contract with recovery organ procurement organizations (OPOs), AlloSource's OPO Corporate Members are true partners, working collaboratively with each other and AlloSource to maximize tissue donation and its benefits to their local communities. As a Corporate Member with AlloSource, LifeGift will receive resources to save and enhance more lives in the state of Texas through financial and community support. In addition, LifeGift gains a place on AlloSource's Board of Directors, playing a role in the company's strategic governance. With AlloSource's progressive scientific innovation using adult mesenchymal stem cells, LifeGift's donated tissue will now have the possibility of saving and enhancing up to 200 lives from one donor.

"We are honored to welcome LifeGift as our newest agency because their reputation as a quality leader in the OPO community will only elevate the work all the OPOs in AlloSource's family of Corporate Members do within their communities," said Suzanne Conrad, Chair of the AlloSource Board of Directors and CEO of Iowa Donor Network.

As a company driven by its mission, AlloSource is constantly looking for innovative opportunities to honor the gift of donation by maximizing its impact to the medical community and patient recipients. This philosophy led the company's team of scientists to design a technique to recover adult mesenchymal stem cells from cadaveric adipose tissue, creating AlloStem® Cellular Bone Growth Substitute. This cutting-edge allograft combines adult mesenchymal stem cells with a bone matrix from the same donor, making up the biological components necessary for bone formation. AlloSource is also the leading provider of skin allografts for the treatment of life-threatening burns.

"Saving and enhancing lives is our mission and that is perfectly aligned with what drives AlloSource," said Sam Holtzman, President and CEO of LifeGift. "We feel strongly about the Texas communities we serve and made this decision after careful deliberation because we believe it is our communities that will benefit the most. We look forward to serving Texans through a long and successful relationship with AlloSource."

In partnering with AlloSource, LifeGift is expanding the distribution of the company's safe and quality tissue that has served areas such as Denver, Chicago, Des Moines, St. Louis, Buffalo, San Diego and Cincinnati for nearly two decades to the Texas medical market. In order to ensure tissue needs are met at all times, AlloSource has opened an office near LifeGift and the hospitals they serve.

"Because AlloSource has always focused on helping local communities, partnering with LifeGift will allow us the opportunity to work with the Texas healthcare industry to save and enhance the lives of its patients," said Tom Cycyota, President and CEO of AlloSource. "We look forward to reinforcing LifeGift's mission of honoring the gift of donation, while simultaneously serving all of our Corporate Member communities and the Denver community we call home."

About AlloSource
AlloSource is a non-profit company that offers more than 200 types of precise bone, skin, soft-tissue and custom-machined allografts for use in an array of life-saving and life-enhancing medical procedures. As the world's leader in fresh cartilage tissue used for joint repair and skin allografts to heal severe burns, AlloSource has grown into one of the largest tissue networks in the country with more than 400 employees. It is the world's largest processor of cellular bone growth substitutes and delivers unparalleled expertise and customer service to its growing network of surgeons, partners and the country's most reputable organ procurement organizations. As one of the leading innovators in maximizing tissue donation with the goal of offering optimal solutions for healthcare providers and their patients, AlloSource is recognized by the medical community for its ability to process and provide high quality tissue. The company is accredited by the American Association of Tissue Banks and is headquartered in Centennial, CO. For more information, please visit our corporate website or educational website.

Media Contact:
Colleen Kilkenny
AlloSource
720. 382. 2756
[email protected]

SOURCE AlloSource