The Buyt Desk
Cord blood stem cell banking was an alien concept to most Indian populations until a decade ago. Stem cell banking allows today’s parents to preserve their child’s stem cells found in the umbilical cord blood. The child’s stem cells are their perfect biological match and with zero risk of rejection which is possible with transplants from donors. Storing your baby’s umbilical cord blood stem cells could someday save their life.
Uses of preserved stem cells
The use of stem cells for preventing or treating a disease or condition is known as Stem-cell therapy. As stem cells have the capacity to develop into different cell types, researchers are experimenting to explore the opportunities of using cord blood stem cells to treat very common life-threatening diseases such as diabetes, stroke, and heart diseases. There is excessive use of stem cells in regenerative treatments and thus many parents are choosing to bank their baby’s stem cells. The list of diseases treatable using stem cells keeps growing at a fast pace. Banking your baby’s stem cells can guarantee your access to your child’s own stem cells for such cellular therapy in the future. This offers parents great biological insurance to protect their child who could be diagnosed with any disease or condition which can be treated with stem cell therapy.
Stem Cell Banks
In India, the cord blood stem cell banking facilities are largely provided by:
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Privately-held banks
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Government-owned (public) banks
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Community stem cell bank
Private Stem Cell Bank
Private stem cell bank is commonly known as a ‘family bank’. Here, parents preserve their baby’s cord blood to ensure its availability only to them for any future use. As the preserved stem cells are used only either by the child or a family member such as a sibling, this way of banking is considered a form of “biological insurance”. The Indian Academy of Pediatrics, as part of the consensus statement (2018) on Umbilical Cord Blood Banking, do not encourage the parents to store their umbilical cord stem cells with private banks, unless a family member or a baby is having a genetic condition which is treatable only by autologous or family stem cells.
Government-Owned (Public) Stem Cell Bank
Public cord blood banks work on the idea of donation, wherein the parents donate their child’s cord blood to the public use and may not be available for the child in future. Anyone in need of the stem cell samples stored in these banks can have access to it. Also the samples in public banks are donated for stem cell research. Any parent can donate their baby’s cord blood to a public bank if they meet the required eligibility criteria specified by the public banks. The database of available samples in public banks is made available to doctors so that they can use it to treat the needy patients. Today, only a limited number of stem cell units (that are ready to use) are available at the public stem cell banks in India. In Indian public banks, the treatment demands are much higher than the available stem cell units for transplant. Jeevan (also known as BeTheCure.in) was the first public bank in India. However due to funding issues, they had to shut down in 2017.
Community Stem Cell Bank
Community Stem Cell Banking is a model where umbilical cord stem cells are added to a community pool. In case of a medical need for a stem cell, all members of the community bank have access to all the units stored in the community pool. This form of banking is the best of both the worlds, the public as well as private banking. It is considered the best model as it allows one to share preserved stem cells solely amongst its community members to find matching donor stem cells. Major of the cord blood stem cell banks in India are community stem cell banks.
List of best Stem Cell Banks in India
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LifeCell International Pvt Ltd
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CordLife
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CryoViva Biotech Pvt Ltd
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Reliance Life Sciences
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Ree Laboratories Pvt. Ltd
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Regenerative Medical Services Pvt. Ltd
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Stemplus
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Stemcyte India Therapeutics Pvt. Ltd
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Indu Stem Cell Bank
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Cryo Stemcell
These banks charge around Rs.60,000/- to Rs.90,000/- for preserving the stem cells for 21 years. There are various options available and based on their requirement parents can choose the required service.
