According to a report in today’s ABP (Anandabazar Patrika), cord blood banking is slowly emerging as an attractive bait to beat the attrition rate in talent-starved corporate world. Now, what is cord blood banking, you might ask.
Cord blood banking is the technique of isolating and preserving stem cells at cryogenic temperature after collection from the placenta and umbilical cord when a baby is born. Research has shown that stem cell therapy – a regenerative medicinal curing – is very useful to treat at least 75 serious ailments, including cardiac problem, cancer, spinal cord injury, etc.
In India, LifeCell, a division of Asia Cryo-Cell Pvt. Ltd, is offering the first cord blood bank service with R&D tie-up with Saneron, a biotechnology research unit cum spin-out company from the University of South Florida, US. LifeCell thus has access to Saneron’s proprietary technique of isolating, processing and preserving stem cells.
Now, thanks to positioning it so, Asia Cryo-Cell is able to convince big companies to offer cord blood banking as an incentive to its employees in addition to other perks. After Starcom Media last May, it is now the turn of Hindustan Lever Limited, and soon perhaps TCS and Cognizant, to consider stem cell therapy for their employees.
For the record, LifeCell’s offering comes in 2 forms, a one-time payment of Rs.59,000 for 21 years, or an initial payment of Rs.27,000 followed by yearly installments of Rs.2,900.
More reading:
- Saneron to tie up with LifeCell
- Banking on stem cells as a corporate perk
- What to do about cord blood banking
- Warning over cord blood banking
Technorati Tags: cord blood, cord blood banking, stem cell, stem cells, stem cell therapy
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