Blood bank plans stem cell bank

Jeevan Blood Bank and Research Centre, a community blood bank based in Chennai, has announced plans to set up a public stem cell bank to provide stem cells of the highest quality extracted from umbilical cord blood.

Jeevan intends to spend about Rs 4 crore in the initial phase with plans to scale up investments to the tune of Rs 18 crore over a period of five years, according to Dr P Srinivasan, chairman, Jeevan Blood Bank.

With the potential to cure over 70 medical conditions like blood cancers (leukaemia and lymphoma) and haematological conditions like thalassemia, stem cell therapy is considered to be one of the best treatment options available today.

Dr Srinivasan said the company would fund the initial cost through a combination of money committed through donations, bank loans and some internal accruals. "However, we will still be short of funds and will explore various options to tie up funds for the project," he added.

The Jeevan Stem Cell Bank project is expected to go live by March 2008 and the stem cell bank will start functioning out of a rented premises. It hopes to complete the accreditation processes by international agencies by December 2008. International accreditations would be required to transport stem cells outside India.

By April 2009, the bank will function out of its own premises over 25,000 sq feet to be built on land provided by the Shree Mahaveer International Mission in Chennai.

It will use 70 per cent of the capacity for public storage and 30 per cent for private storage.

Income from this will support the stem cell bank. Jeevan will make available matched stem cell units to poor patients free of cost and at Rs 100,000 per person for others. "We expect 30 per cent of the private storage to generate about 95 per cent of revenues of the stem cell bank," Srinivasan said.

The bank will collect, test, process and store not less than 40,000 units of stem cells collected from umbilical cord blood in five years. This number is scaleable upward based on need and funding options. Jeevan will make available this facility to any Indian in any part of the world. It will collaborate with national research organizations approved by the competent authorities of government of India.

Jeevan is managed by a board of trustees. Over the past twelve years, it has collected over 63,000 blood donations and made available over 100,000 units of safe blood and blood components to the public.