Congratulations to the St. Louis Cord Blood Bank which has just announced the 1,000th cord blood stem cell unit which has been exported for transplant!
It is the world's second-largest cord blood repository and its continued development is testament to the value of cord blood stem cells in disease treatment. The article states "Cord blood is a source of adult stem cells which are as effective as a bone marrow transplant in fighting leukemia and lymphoma. Cord blood is collected from the umbilical cord at birth."
The bank began shipping units of cord blood for exportation worldwide in 1997 and is a member of the NMDP, a consortium of public cord blood banks. Their website FAQ makes it clear that although donation does not cost the donor any money, the donor also has no exclusive rights to the stored unit, as it is in the bank's discretion to provide it to another patient in need or to a laboratory for research purposes. Most of the public banks charge patients for the release of units, with the cost typically being in excess of USD 21,000. So in this regard the St. Louis bank is probably the most cash-generative public access bank in the world, although the release fees probably still don't cover the high costs of operating this facility in the US.
In a separate article, a famous Netherlands-based medical researcher Dr. Pieter Doevendans criticized the practice of private cord blood banking, alleging that mothers have to pay a hefty fee for an idea that may not yield any results for another 50 years.
The press went on to quote him as saying "There is no proof that one can use cord stem cells to cure a disease, be it leukemia or thalassaemia...Storing cord blood cells may help 50 years down the line, but not before."
Dr. Doevedans is wrong, wrong, wrong. Who knows what his sources are, but if he had been reading this blog or the Malaysian newspapers, he could have learned about how in the last four years StemLife has assisted in two life-saving cord blood stem cell transplants; one for leukemia and one for thalassemia major. There have been similar leukemia transplants in Europe. Dr. Doevedan's mis-informed comments are a dis-service to patients, doctors and scientists seeking therapies using cord blood stems cells. Perhaps he should re-read the hippocratic oath.
Apparently, private banks in the Netherlands charge large sums to bank cord blood stem cells for a period of ten years and the same applies in India. In Malaysia our pricing is very reasonable (less than a teh-tarik per day!) and anyone who knows the costs of medical consumables and what it takes to run a good service would know that we're very prudent about managing the pricing to make stem cell banking affordable. Compare the upfront charge to the amount that public services charge, with no greater guarantees that the unit would be available, and the banking fee in Malaysia is actually very affordable.
Perhaps Dr. Doevendans comments are explained by the fact that instead of working with cord blood stem cells he works on highly speculative (though important) embryonic stem cell research to generate cardiomyocytes from pigs and mice. He is hoping that the research will result in tissues which are able to be sewn onto the heart within 5 years. Notably, he is also a scientific advisor to a Singapore company Embryonic Stem Cell International (ESI).
Umbilical cord blood stem cells have effectively been used to treat thalasemia and leukemia and a number of other illnesses. How many leukemia patients have been saved with embryonic stem cell transplants? NONE.
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