DUARTE, Calif., Dec. 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Prolacta Bioscience, the nation’s leading provider of human milk-based neonatal nutritional products to hospitals, is introducing tamper-resistant neckbands as an added safety feature on its entire line of 100 percent human milk-based neonatal nutritional products.
The new tamper-resistant neckbands will replace the heat-sealed bags in which Prolacta products were previously shipped. Benefits of this new safety feature include the following:
- The tamper-resistant neckbands make it easier to recognize if a product has been opened or tampered with, adding an extra measure of safety for hospitals.
- The neckbands are color coded to match Prolacta’s new product labels, requiring less effort for clinicians to identify products by calorie concentration. Prolacta’s recently introduced new product labels feature more prominent product-specific colors, along with more easily readable product names, ingredients, directions for use, and product codes.
- Elimination of the heat-sealed bags allows Prolacta products to be easily stacked in the freezer to free up space and reduces waste and the impact on the environment.
“We constantly strive to make our products safer for the fragile premature babies that need them, and easier for their care teams to use,” said Scott Elster, president and CEO of Prolacta Bioscience. “The new tamper-resistant neckbands give our entire product line another level of safety to protect these vulnerable infants.”
Prolacta offers hospitals the only full line of neonatal nutritional products made exclusively from human milk instead of cow milk. When used as part of an exclusive human milk diet (EHMD),1 Prolacta’s neonatal nutritional products are clinically proven to improve health outcomes2,3,4 and reduce hospital costs5,6 for critically ill, extremely premature infants weighing between 500 and 1,250 g (1 lb 2 oz to 2 lb 12 oz) at birth, in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), as compared to cow milk-based fortifier or cow milk-based preterm formula.
About Prolacta Bioscience
Prolacta Bioscience, Inc. is a privately held life sciences company dedicated to Advancing the Science of Human Milk®. The company pioneered the development of human milk-based neonatal nutritional products to meet the needs of critically ill premature infants in the NICU. Prolacta leads the industry in the quality and safety of nutritional products made from donor breast milk and operates the first and only pharmaceutical-grade manufacturing facility for the processing of human breast milk.
Media Contact
Loren Kosmont
Lkosmont@prolacta.com
310-721-9444
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1 An exclusive human milk diet (EHMD) is achieved when 100 percent of the protein, fat and carbohydrates in an infant’s diet are derived from human milk. This diet includes a human milk-based human milk fortifier.
2 Sullivan S, Schanler RJ, Kim JH, et al. An exclusively human milk-based diet is associated with a lower rate of necrotizing enterocolitis than a diet of human milk and bovine milk-based products. J Pediatr. 2010;156(4):562-567. doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2009.10.040. The randomized study of 207 infants weighing 500 to 1250 g compared the benefits of an exclusive human milk diet to a diet of both human milk-based and cow milk-based products.
3 Cristofalo EA, Schanler RJ, Blanco CL, et al. Randomized trial of exclusive human milk versus preterm formula diets in extremely premature infants. J Pediatr. 2013;163(6):1592-1595. doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2013.07.011. The multicenter randomized controlled study examined 53 extremely premature infants weighing 500 to 1250 g who were fed either a bovine milk-based preterm formula or an exclusive human milk diet, comparing the duration of parenteral nutrition, growth and morbidity.
4 Abrams SA, Schanler RJ, Lee ML, Rechtman DJ. Greater mortality and morbidity in extremely preterm infants fed a diet containing cow milk protein products. Breastfeed Med. 2014;9(6):281-285. doi:10.1089/bfm.2014.0024. This cohort study included 260 extremely preterm infants born weighing less than 1250 g who received a diet that ranged from 100% cow milk to 100% human milk.
5 Ganapathy V, Hay JW, Kim JH. Costs of necrotizing enterocolitis and cost-effectiveness of exclusively human milk-based products in feeding extremely premature infants. Breastfeed Med. 2012;7(1):29-37. doi:10.1089/bfm.2011.0002. This cost-effectiveness analysis of 2,560 extremely premature infants less than 28 weeks’ gestational age in 257 hospitals nationwide compared the impact of an exclusive human milk diet composed of mother’s milk fortified with a human milk-based fortifier versus a diet composed of mother’s milk fortified with cow milk-based fortifier.
6 Assad M, Elliott MJ, Abraham JH. Decreased cost and improved feeding tolerance in VLBW infants fed an exclusive human milk diet. J Perinatol. 2016;36(3):216-220. doi:10.1038/jp.2015.168. The study retrospectively looked at 293 preterm infants between gestational ages of 23 to 34 weeks and birth weights between 490 and 1700 g in the Level III NICU. The study compared the clinical and financial impacts between infants that were fed an exclusive human milk diet; cow milk-based fortifier and maternal milk; a mixed combination of maternal milk, cow milk-based fortifier and cow milk-based formula; and formula between March 2009 and March 2014.