Stem cell banking majors like Reliance Life Sciences and LifeCell International are now introducing cord tissue banking. The collection process is claimed to be non invasive, painless and usually devoid of infection. The complete service of cord blood stem cell and processing of cord tissue for harvesting stem cells comes at a cost of Rs 63,100 for the first year and annual storage fee of Rs 5,500 for the next 20 years. The overall cost could work out to Rs 1,17,500 for storing and processing of cord blood and cord tissue.
Earlier, after the collection of the umbilical cord blood for stem cell harvesting, the remaining solid cord tissue was discarded. However, extensive research has revealed that the cord tissue is a rich source of mesenchymal stem cells. These stem cells are superior to bone marrow MSCs as these cells are more robust. “With increasing awareness, there has been a lot of interest amongst young parents-to-be and cord blood banking as a concept is catching up in India,” says KV Subramaniam, president and CEO, Reliance Life Sciences.
According to Subramaniam, India is following in the footsteps of the United States, Canada, Singapore, China, Malaysia and the UK in providing cord blood and cord tissue banking services.
Currently, it is estimated that over 30 institutions and hospitals are engaged in stem cell work. The attraction for players in the developed world is India’s relative cost advantage. “For instance, LifeCell plans to charge about $2,500-3,000 for diabetes treatment and $10,000-14,000 for cancer. In the West, similar treatment for diabetes would cost about $8,000-10,000 and for cancer it could go up to $1,00,000, which means India has a huge potential to attract foreign patients,” says Hitesh Gajaria, executive-director, KPMG India.
