Co-authored by Frances Verter of the Parent’s Guide to Cord Blood Foundation and Didier Nouziès, CEO of CordSavings, a cord blood bank based at the Monthey technology site, the article describes the “near” failure of one of the world’s largest cord blood banks, Global Cord Blood Corp, in China, and the lessons to be learned.
A world authority on cord blood preservation, Frances Verter collaborated with Didier Nouziès, CEO of the Swiss company CordSavings, to write this article tracing the “soap opera” of Global Cord Blood Corp’s decline. Indeed, one of the world’s largest umbilical cord blood banks is “bankrupt”.
To give an idea of the scale of this organization, in March 2022, Global Cord Blood Corp. had a total inventory of 1,060,516 units of cord blood. This is the largest inventory of any bank in the world.
According to Ms Verter and Mr Nouziès, the lessons to be learned from the history of Global Cord Blood Corp are as follows:
- being listed on the stock exchange does not guarantee that a cord blood banking company is a safe investment (editor’s note: the example of Cryo-Save, the most extensive banking network in Europe at the time, went bankrupt)
- cord blood banks should be wary of investing too heavily in partner companies that will enable them to offer cellular therapies.
The Global Cord Blood Corp crisis is, according to the authors of the article, a warning: the race to consolidate banks and increase profits must not take precedence over proper corporate supervision.
Read the full article : here
CordSavings in a nutshell
CordSavings is an independent Swiss laboratory based at the BioArk technology site in Monthey, offering pregnant women and all families expecting a child the possibility of harvesting and preserving stem cells derived from umbilical cord tissue and cord blood.
Viktor Schnyder is delighted to be able to develop his business in Raron. “In addition to its proximity to Visp and its central location, the site can count on the strengths of the Valais and its loyal specialists. Valais also offers good incentives for innovative ideas.
Cord Blood Preservation : how and why ?
Umbilical cord blood banking involves preserving the newborn stem cells present in the blood of the umbilical cord and placenta. When a baby is delivered, even if clamping of the umbilical cord is delayed, there is still blood left after birth that is rich in stem cells and has medical value.
Although cord blood stem cells are not embryonic, they are more pristine than adult stem cells, as they are younger and less exposed to disease or environmental factors.
The stem cells contained in umbilical cord blood can be harvested without any risk to the baby or mother. Umbilical cord blood is used for therapy today in hospitals around the world. There are clinical trials using cord blood for stem cell transplants and emerging therapies in regenerative medicine. Cord blood banking encompasses the entire process, from collection to storage of newborn stem cells for future medical use.
Source : Parent’s Guide to Cord Blood Foundation & CordSavings
