Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson has launched a new company,
Virgin Health Bank, for families who wish to store their newborns’ umbilical cord blood (see
news report). The stem cells found in cord blood are used to treat diseases such as leukaemia. Some parents seem cord blood banking as an ‘insurance policy’ as stem cell research may provide treatments and perhaps cures for many more diseases in the future. Using one’s own cells in treatments is preferable as finding donor tissue that is a close match is often difficult and tissue rejection is a possibility. Therefore private cord blood banking has grown over the recent years. Clients of Virgin Health Bank will pay approximately £1500 to bank their child’s cord blood for a period of 20 years.
There are several other such companies in existence but Virgin Health Bank states they are different. The Bank will act as a dual public/private facility. The cord blood will be divided into two portions – one portion will be put aside for the private use of the family and the other will be put into a public stem cell bank where the donation will be available for use by the family or by those in need of a donor transplant. Sir Richard has also stated that profits from the Bank will go to a charitable foundation to fund initiatives to foster the use of stem cells. Another need is to increase availability for underrepresented ethnic populations.
The
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has
responded to the launch of the Bank, reconfirming its belief that there is little evidence to support private cord blood banking. In its
June 2006 opinion paper it notes that the likelihood of a child from a low-risk family needing the banked cells is very low and therefore should be carefully considered. There are other options. The NHS has a publicly-available cord blood bank, albeit with a limited storage capacity. It currently has approximately 7000 donations. In addition, families who are a high risk for certain diseases, such as Fanconi anaemia, already have access to cord blood storage. The RCOG is also concerned about the impact the collection process might have on the mother and child during the birth process, as the collection “…
could jeopardise the mother’s or the baby’s health.” Those collecting the cord blood should have proper training and contamination issues must be considered. However, it “
applauded” the intention of Virgin Health Bank to increase the availability of cord blood through its public bank. The RCOG plans to examine routine private cord blood banking further and intends to publish a report later this year. The
Royal College of Midwives also acknowledges that many maternity units do not have policies in place regarding the collection of cord blood.