The Chennai-based Lifecell, India's first umbilical cord blood bank and research centre, set up in technical association with Cryo cell International Inc., USA, has taken off.

Surjith Singh Barnala, Governor of Tamil Nadu, inaugurated the Rs 12-crore invested facility on last Saturday. Promoted by Asia Cryocell Pvt. Ltd., Lifecell is mainly initiated by S Abhaya Kumar, joint managing director, Shasun Drugs & Chemicals Ltd. and R Thyagarajan, chairman, ACPL and Shriram group of companies, Chennai. Cryo cell International is the oldest and largest family cord blood bank in the United States with a track record of 12 years.

Lifecell has set up a 16,000-sq.ft world-class laboratory at Keelakotaiyur in the suburbs of Chennai. The facility would enable Asia Cryo cell to provide seamless service from the collection of the cord blood to harvesting and finally storage of the stem cells at -190 degrees centigrade under liquid nitrogen. These stored stem cells can then be used to treat the person they were obtained from if required, and would aid in the cure of a gamut of life threatening ailments like leukaemia, anaemia, thalassemia, cardio vascular diseases etc. Further, the stored stem cells have a 25 per cent chance of matching the immediate family members and siblings of the donor, said Saranya Nandakumar, medical director.

According to S Abhaya Kumar, CEO, Lifecell, the facility would be the world's most affordable cord blood bank, at present. Lifecell plans to open 24 franchisee centres in India within two years. At present, the facility has 12,000 vials capacity and could process about 72 cord blood bags a day. Already franchisee cord blood collection centers have been started in Hyderabad and Bangalore, and soon more centres would take off in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Ahemadabad and Ludhiana. Life Cell's quality systems and facilities conform to world standards and the company is in the process of getting ISO 9002 certification. Further, Asia Cryo is planning to start similar cord blood banks in Singapore and Malaysia with technical support from Cryo-cell International Inc, revealed Abhaya Kumar.

Inaugurating the facility, Surjith Singh Barnala noted the non-controversial source of umbilical cords and placenta stem cells is gaining ground in recent times. In countries like America diseases like cancer, diabetes and cardiac diseases are now treated using stem cell therapy. The Egmore Women and Children's hospital alone have 18,000 deliveries per annum, and this shows the enormous untapped potential in the field. Lifecell and the Asia Cryo should tie up with the NGOs to enlighten the public on stem cell banking, on the storage of umbilical cord blood and about the stem cell therapy and its effective usage in treatment of malignant and non-malignant diseases. Harvesting of umbilical cord blood poses no threat to mother and child, and this has to be emphasized. Asia Cryo-cell and the like should work on the modalities and go for a tie-up with medical insurance companies to the effect that the cost becomes affordable to the middle class and the people at large, suggested Governor.

S P Thyagarajan, VC, Madras University, Prathap C Reddy, chairman, Apollo Hospitals and Gerald F Mass, executive VP, Cryo-cell International Inc. spoke on the occasion. Dr. Saranya Nandakumar, medical director, Life Cell, elaborated about the project and V S Pattabhiraman, director proposed vote of thanks.