A Global Look at Cord Blood and Cord Tissue Clinical Trials

July 2026 was Cord Blood Awareness Month — a fitting moment to step back and look at where the science actually stands.

Over the past decade, both cord blood and the tissue of the umbilical cord itself, have become amongst the most actively trialed sources in regenerative medicine. As of July 2026, there are more than 100 actively recruiting studies worldwide using cord blood or cord tissue-derived cells, and the rate at which new trials are opening is accelerating.

In newborns and children, cord-derived cells are being trialled for brain injury of prematurity, hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy at birth, cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorder, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and rare inherited skin diseases such as recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa.

In adults, the same cells are being trialled across the conditions that define modern aging: knee osteoarthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ischaemic stroke, type 2 diabetes and its complications, chronic kidney disease, heart failure, COPD, lupus, multiple sclerosis and aging frailty itself.

We have highlighted some of these recruiting trials below, showing the wide range of studies in which cord blood stem cells are being used worldwide.