Since the 1960s, the concept of using umbilical cord blood for medical purposes began to take shape.
Decades of research revealed that cord blood contains a high concentration of stem cells, which can serve as a fully viable alternative to bone marrow transplantation.

After many years of experimental studies, the groundwork was prepared for its clinical use, and on October 6, 1988, a team led by Eliane Gluckman in France performed the first successful cord blood transplantation on a six-year-old patient suffering from Fanconi anemia.
The patient fully recovered and remains healthy to this day.
In 1991, another patient with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) was successfully treated with cord blood transplantation—confirming the enormous therapeutic potential of this method.

Subsequent transplants proved that cord blood stem cell transplantation is a complete and effective alternative to bone marrow transplantation.
This success prompted the creation of cord blood banks.
In 1992, the first international registry and cord blood banks were established in the United States — notably, the New York Blood Center Cord Blood Bank and the University of Arizona Stem Cell Bank.

Today, there are 55 cord blood banks in the U.S., and soon after, similar registries and banks were founded across Europe.
Cord blood banking rapidly gained popularity both among medical professionals and the general public.
Currently, there are at least 150 cord blood banks worldwide, which handle both autologous (personal) and allogeneic (donor) cord blood collection, processing, and long-term storage.

Globally, nearly one million samples are stored.
In parallel, the number of transplantations has grown significantly—from about 6,000 procedures in 2003 to around 40,000 today.
The majority of patients are children, though at least 10% are adults.

Looking ahead, it is expected that cord blood will also enable the development of other tissue types, including nerve, cardiac muscle (myocardium), liver, pancreas, bone, and cartilage.
The use of cord blood in regenerative medicine is expanding rapidly, with ongoing clinical trials targeting cerebral palsy (over 200 patients treated), brain and spinal cord injuries, type 1 diabetes, obliterating endarteritis, atherosclerosis, and arthrosis.

On December 20, 2005, the U.S. Congress passed the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005, which provides for the collection of 150,000 new cord blood samples from families affected by blood disorders, cancers, metabolic diseases, hemoglobinopathies, and congenital immune deficiencies.
The Act also supports research into cord blood stem cells.

To finance this program, the U.S. government allocated $50–54 million annually through 2010, and an additional $43 million was assigned for 2011–2015.