Significant corporate developments in the US human milk marketplace

The founder of Prolacta Bioscience, an oft-criticized company that uses breastmilk given for free by moms to produce products it sells for profit to hospitals –for premature infants – has started a competing company.

Elena Medo says she sold her stock last year in Prolacta and says "worldwide the only competition have is my old company."

Medolac Laboratories (Neolac) will sell human-milk derived fortifier and other human-milk based products for use in both hospitals and at-home use. Prolacta, which recently expanded its facility to allow it to store as much as 110,000 litres of frozen human milk, sells its fortifier at a price of $6.25/ml, or $185/ounce.

Medo has secured suppliers of human milk by partnering with two organizations:

Current ads on Only The Breast, Oct. 20, 2013

•  Only The Breast, which up until now has operated an Internet-based classified ad human milk selling site, said in a news release Friday it is abandoning that model and will work to direct its stable of sellers to Medo's new firm. Of note, Only The Breast is under fire in a soon-to-be published research report published Oct. 21 which found high rates of bacteria in samples purchased from people selling human milk from its site.

Image from Mothers Milk Cooperative website.

• Mothers Milk Cooperative, founded in May 2013 and described by Medo as a "sister company" that will provide the "supply-side" for Medolac, allows women to donate in a "Pay It Forward" model, or to directly sell their milk for "Milk Money" at $1/ounce. Mothers Milk Cooperative plans to set up hospital-based milk bank sites.

The ethical problems with Prolacta's model are obvious. The jury's still out on Medo's new model.

Sources: Interview with Medo, August 2013
PRNewswire, Medolac Laboratories and Mothers Milk Cooperative announce agreement 
Elena Medo Linked-In Profile
News Release, Only The Breast announces innovative new milk banking partnership - Oct 18 2013 (via a receiving journalist)

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Previous Human Milk News posts on Prolacta.

Previous Human Milk News post on Only The Breast.