Prolacta Bioscience is a research driven company dedicated to advancing the science of human milk.™
As a pioneer in human milk-based nutritional products, Prolacta produces specialty nutritional formulations made exclusively from human milk for critically ill premature infants in the NICU. Prolacta is the first and only company to provide a human milk fortifier made from 100% human milk, Prolact+ H2MF®.
As a for-profit, company we have invested over 40 million dollars in research, clinical studies and facilities to develop and test our human milk derived products. This world class research and development would not have been possible with a non-profit business model.
What is Prolacta's Human Milk Fortifer, and How Does it Help Preemies?
During the last trimester, growing fetuses receive vast amounts of nutrition through the umbilical cord. However, very premature infants miss this crucial nutrition and their caloric and protein needs are greater than what breast milk can supply. As a result, the standard practice in the NICU is to fortify breast milk with extra calories and protein to provide enough for the very premature infant's needs. Until the advent of Prolact+ H2MF, the only way to provide the extra calories and protein was to add cow’s milk-based formula. Prolacta's lead product, Prolact+ H2MF, is the only product made from 100% human milk that can supply the extra calories and protein necessary for very premature infants. Prolact+ H2MF is specially designed to be used with mother's own milk, which is the best possible nutrition for critically ill premature infants, to give the necessary extra calories and protein.
In 2007 Prolacta undertook the first ever multicenter randomized clinical studies of feeding critically ill premature infants a completely human based, nutritionally adequate diet. The results of this study and a subsequent study, published in 2010 and 2013, demonstrated that a 100% human milk diet, including Prolact + H2MF, improved health outcomes. 1, 2. A third report, combining the data from these two trials, demonstrated additional benefits to a 100% human milk diet that were not seen in either trial individually. 3 Your generous milk donation will be used to produce these life-saving nutritional formulations and help improve the lives of critically ill premature infants. Read more about the studies in the Journal of Pediatrics.
References
1.Sullivan S, et al. J Pediatr 2010 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2009.10.040
2. Cristofalo EA, et al. J Pediatr. 2013;163(1,2,3):1592-1595. doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2013.07.011
3. Abrams SA, et al. Breastfeeding Medicine (DOI: 10.1089/bfm.2014.0024)
