Umbilical cord breaks free

Biotech firms offer to preserve umbilical cords for Rs 59,000-1,00,000.

What do Reliance Life Sciences, Asia Cryo-Cell and Histostem Co Ltd have in common? Apart from being involved in stem cell research, all the three companies have got the go-ahead to set up a blood bank with a difference.

They can now be a repository of umbilical cord blood, which is a rich source of stem cells, for cell transplantation treatment. With the recent approvals by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the three companies can start private banking of cord-blood in India.

It is a new business model in the Indian biotechnology sector, more on the lines of medical insurance.

By enrolling with a cord-blood bank, expectant mothers can ensure that the umbilical cord of the child is preserved for the next 21 to 30 years as a medical safeguard against complicated diseases like leukaemia, diabetes, thalassemia, spinal cord damage and irreversible blindness, to treat the entire family.

And the tag?
Enrollment fees at the banks ranged from Rs 59,000 to Rs 1,00,000. The onus of collecting and preserving cord-blood was with the banks. What happened if the cell was unsuitable for use within the stipulated period?

The money will be refunded to the client. The present cost of cell transplantation ran into Rs 15-20 lakh, inclusive of the price of the stem cell. Reliance Life Sciences was in the process of opening a 3,000-unit cord-blood repository in Mumbai.

"We are taking a long-term view in our stem cell related research and repository business. We will be in a position to set up eight new plants of 6,226 units each over the next three years," says an executive with Reliance Life Sciences.

By the time the repository reaches 30,000 blood cell units, the capex will be around Rs 150 crore, he claims. The Chennai-based Asia Cryo-Cell's private bank, Life Cell, "" set up in collaboration with the US-based biotech major Cryo-Cell International ""at Keelkotaiyoor near Chennai, also had big plans.

It was lining up marketing and collection centres in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ludhiana, Ahmedabad and Mumbai.

S Abhaya Kumar, vice-chairman and chief executive officer of Asia Cryo-Cell, says, "We plan to move from storage to solutions by setting up hematology and oncology stem cell transplant centres. We are in active discussions with a leading hospital for this," he added.

The company will launch its operations in 24 cities in 24 months including Saarc countries and Singapore and Malaysia. The Korean biotechnology company Histostem was planning to set up the largest bank at a cost of Rs 86 crore in Mumbai.

It had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Maharashtra government for the project "Given our large population, finding the right stem cell, which would be compatible with a particular blood type, would not be difficult. More investment in this area will also lead to reduction of treatment cost," says a pharmaceutical analyst.

And the response?
Kumar claims that his company had already collected about 10,000 samples from India, Bangkok, Dubai and Singapore.

Already, there were about a dozen institutions conducting stem cell research in India. It was only a matter of time, before they too jumped on the commercial bandwagon.