Society of Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering (SRMTE) insists on the setting up public cord blood banks across the country on similar lines that of the western world. The move would stall the commercial interest of private cord blood banks which collect a fee to store them.

The probability of using one’s own or autologous cord blood for hematopoietic diseases is insignificant. All private players run cord blood banks for autologous use claiming it could treat blood related disorders like childhood cancers.  Stored cord blood units to treat blood disorders can be done only with allogeneic and not with one’s own blood units, which could be sourced from a public cord blood bank.

The concept of public cord blood bank in India would enable use of new born baby’s stem cells for future medical treatments by a larger patient population. If parents choose to bank their child’s cord blood, then they should bank it for regenerative therapies, Dr. Jyothsna Rao, Secretary, Society of Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering told Pharmabiz at the sidelines of the Stem 2015.

A key benefit from the public cord blood bank would be to overcome the difficulty of finding a human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matched bone marrow donor. The umbilical cord blood is rich source of hematopoietic stem cells which could be used to treat hematopoietic disorders. But it is observed that except for regenerative therapies which uses autologous banking large number of cord blood units is lying unused in repositories across the world. Thrust has to be given to promote autologous cord blood banking for regenerative medicine, which is Bank for the right reasons. Parents who do not wish to store their baby’s cord blood for regenerative therapies must have the option of donating it to public cord blood banks. Going by the incidence of transplants in India and rise in life-threatening diseases, there is an immediate need for public cord blood banking infrastructure, she adds.

“In India, cord blood banking is a profitable spin- off of stem cell technology. Everyone involved in this business is well aware, that due to unbridled self interest, some companies have reduced this useful option for bone marrow transplantation to the status of a cosmetic product.  Several nasty marketing strategies are used including bribing the doctors and nursing staff by the cord blood banks. They are forced to assert storage of cord blood to protect both the infant and his family against serious illnesses by using its source of stem cells. There are endorsements by film stars inducing parents to shell out money to store the umbilical cord blood, whose clinical utility is limited. So far whatever cord blood units used, have been only for allogenic purposes which is from a donor to a matching patient,” she adds.

Dr Rao in her presentation titled ‘Cord blood banking: Banking for the right reasons,’ highlighted the need to project translational clinical studies using stem cells as regenerative therapies. Autlogous banking must be advocated for regenerative therapies, whereby the child is protected in future from clinical conditions. A saved cord blood unit belonging to the same child will be of enormous use .

Alternatively, if parents choose not to bank, they could donate it to a public cord blood bank, where it can be used to treat hematopoietic disorders in an allogeneic setting. With the public cord blood banks, its benefits could reach a large patient population, said Dr Rao.