The Chennai based company LifeCell has plans to invest Rs 60 to 70 crore over the next three years. The company is setting up 4 more therapeutic centres at Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Calcutta. With a total investment of Rs 30 crore, these centres will be commissioned by the end of 2009.

Recently, the company has launched its first public blood bank at Chennai with the initial investment of Rs 10 crore. In the proposed 4 centres, it will be catering to various therapeutic areas like spinal code, heart, liver and diabetes. At present company has around 22 collection centres across the country and by the end of 2008, there will be around 500 such centres.

Speaking to Pharmabiz, Abhaya Kumar, vice chairman, LifeCell said, "We have plans to invest Rs 60-70 crore in the next three years. With the initial investment of Rs 2 crore we are setting up menstrual stem cell in the next three months time. We are also exploring our international presence in the Maldives, Bangalore and Seychelles. Very first time in Bangladesh we will be setting up our therapies centre. We are planning to set up a few more collection centre at Singapore, Malaysia and Dubai by the mid 2009".

Recently, research and development division of LifeCell has been recognized by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). With this accreditation, LifeCell is entitled to receive support from the premier Government establishment such as Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and The Department of Science & Technology (DST) on any advanced research in Stem Cell Biology. The company has also granted the prestigious AABB (American Association of Blood Banks) accreditation. AABB is an international non-profit body dedicated to developing the highest standards in blood and cord blood banking, transfusion medicine and cellular therapy.

The company has been growing at a rate of 100 per cent annually. During the financial year 2006-07 it has achieved a turnover Rs 25 crore and for the current years it is looking forward to touch Rs 60 crore. The company is in early talks with five Indian pharma companies for supplying stem cell lines for the drug development. As per the technology partnership with CRY-Cell it has launched menstrual blood collection centre processing service centre at America.