( A California company backed by Silicon ...)Donated Mothers Milk To Hit The Market,Health

A California company backed by Silicon Valley venture capitalists will soon start selling donated mothers' milk to hospitals treating premature infants, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The company, Prolacta, will offer regular and high-fat varieties for infants who need// extra calories.

The milk will be collected by donor nursing mothers at a network of hospitals around the US, be frozen and shipped to Prolacta's California headquarters for pasteurisation and distribution.

Currently, the company's equipment can process enough milk in a year to feed 100,000 hospitalised infants for two months.

As part of the agreement, hospitals would recruit and screen volunteer donors for diseases and collect and ship donated milk.

Prolacta, in turn, would provide hospitals with all necessary equipment - refrigerators, temperature-controlled shipping cartons and tracking software - plus payments linked to the volume of milk they provide.

Prolacta also plans to provide hospitals with a public relations programme to attract donors. Nursing mothers who agree to donate any amount of milk would receive a free motorized breast pump, a device for siphoning milk.

The company was founded in 1999 by Elena Medo, a veteran proponent of the benefits of natural human milk.

It only became commercially viable in June when Prolacta secured $4 million in venture funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, one of the leading venture capital firms in Silicon Valley.

Now, Medo hopes that eventually there will be enough milk available to give to not just premature babies but to children with cancer, heart conditions or AIDS.

Limited supplies of mothers' milk are currently available through nine non-profit milk banks scattered around the country, but most hospitals use manufactured formula to feed premature infants.

While mothers' milk is generally believed to be healthier for babies
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