Baby Cord Share is envisioned as a 'community stem cell bank' whose members would benefit from stem cells and tissue preserved by other members.
In what it pitches as the first-such-program in the world, a preventive healthcare services company, is starting a bank for preserving umbilical cord stem cells and tissue that may be used not just by the donor and her family, but also by other community members.
Stem cells are master cells that can develop into different cell types, such as brain cells, blood cells, etc, and organ tissues in our body. They have the capacity to heal and regenerate. This capacity makes them ideal solutions in treating conditions such as thalassaemia, leukaemia, lymphoma and other cancers. The umbilical cord is a rich source of stem cells and tissue. Many parents therefore now opt to 'bank' the umbilical cord so these life-giving stem cells and tissue can be harnessed in the event of future illnesses.
Traditionally when the umbilical cord is banked, its stem cells and tissue are meant for use by the baby during its lifetime or, if the stem cells match then by the baby's siblings as well. In order to create a larger inventory of stem cells and address the challenges of sourcing matching stem cells, Chennai-based LifeCell has envisioned Baby Cord Share as a community stem cell bank. Think of it as giving your car to Uber, which ensures that a lot more people get to ride in it during the time when you aren't in the driver's seat.
"Parents who preserves their child's umbilical cord will find better access to stem cells than (parents in) any other country in the world," said Mayur Abhaya, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of LifeCell, stating that stem cells can be relied upon to treat 80 medical conditions. "This is a transformational approach to stem cells, where we match under utilised asset to the unmet demand."
This sort of a community stem cell bank would make stem cells available not just to the baby but to the entire family with a higher and quicker probability of finding a match from the community pool. It's success though would hinge on the number of members that pool into the community bank, which comes at a cost — for Baby Cord Share, LifeCell has a registration fee of Rs17,000 and an annual storage fee of Rs 4,000. Besides, while thousands of babies are born in India every day, a large majority of these births take place at home. Of the births that do take place in hospitals, called institutional deliveries, less than 2 per cent preserve umbilical cords.
LifeCell, however, is confident that new parents, especially those in the age group of 25-35, are increasingly aware about the advantages of preserving umbilical cord stem cells, and opt to do so. "Through community banking of cord blood units, India has the potential to become the largest inventory of stem cells globally, increasing the scope of potentially lifesaving stem cell transplants for babies, their families, their communities, and others of Indian origin worldwide," said Abhaya.
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