K T Jagannathan

CHENNAI: The four-year-old Asia Cryo-Cell Pvt. Ltd., a pioneer in umbilical cord blood stem cell banking, research and therapy in India, has been renamed. It will now be known as LifeCell International Pvt. Ltd. The name change is necessitated by a desire to align the activities of the company with its `LifeCell' brand in the domestic and international markets, according to Abhaya Kumar, Vice-Chairman of the renamed LifeCell.

The company, he said, earned its revenue by storing cord blood stem cells for a fee. These were used to treat certain specific diseases, he pointed out. ``There is an annual fee of Rs.3500 for storing cord blood cells,'' he said. LifeCell also charged a one-time processing fee of Rs.32,000 initially, he added. Till date, LifeCell had cumulatively stored 11,000 units of cord blood, he said. Seven units had thus far been used, he added. The cord blood cells were stored at a temperature of minus 196 degree Celsius, he pointed out.

LifeCell has currently 30 centres across Asia. By 2009, it planned to have over 50 centres across the globe. With the experience gained in private chord blood banking, LifeCell now was toying with the idea of getting into public banking and adult stem cells. LifeCell, Mr. Kumar said, had been awarded accreditation by American Association of Blood Banks. The change in the name, he said, was being implemented across all markets with immediate effect. The company has a licence agreement and knowledge sharing arrangement with Cryo-Cell Internationa (CCI) of the U.S. The company, he said, posted a turnover of around Rs.25 crore during 2007-08, up from Rs. 14 crore last year. The company, he said, has invested about of Rs.25 crore in setting up the cord blood bank.