Virgin's baby stem cell bank opens for business

13 April 2012

Sir Richard Branson has launched a business offering parents the chance to store their child's stem cells.

For a one-off payment of £1,500, the Virgin Health Bank will keep the cells after they are collected at birth from the umbilical cord.

Stem cells are used to treat leukaemia and some scientists believe that in future they could help grow new organs and fight diseases.

There are already seven private cord blood banks in Britain, but Virgin says its £10million venture is the first in the world to offer a public service alongside.

A large proportion of the cord blood collected from each child would be made available to the Health Service and other hospitals for free, to help save the lives of leukaemia sufferers.

The rest would be kept in storage just for the donor. Sir Richard said Britain was falling behind in the use of cord blood, which is widely used in Japan and the U.S.

He said: Over the last few years I have received many letters from distraught parents who were unable to find either bone marrow or stem cell matches for their sick children.

It is increasingly apparent that there simply are not enough stem cells being collected.'

He has pledged to donate his profits from the bank to stem cell research, though his partners, a firm of venture capitalists, will keep their share.

Stem cells are immature cells that can develop into any type of body cell. Umbilical cord blood is such a good source because babies in the womb have far greater amounts of the cells.

But the project, a departure from Virgin's enterprises such as air travel, trains and soft drinks, has drawn fire from midwives. They say it will add to their already overwhelming workload.

Virgin will not employ staff to collect the blood and only one in five NHS hospitals are expected to agree to collect it for mothers who ask.

The private banks are facing a similar problem. Some parents have hired agents to retrieve the blood but these are expensive and Virgin will not encourage parents to use them.

A Royal College of Midwives spokesman said: Collecting these samples is cumbersome and detracts from the primary task of the midwife.

There are health and safety implications,' she added. Critics also said there was little evidence to support the claims of future stem cell breakthroughs.

Some scientists believe the cells could be used to treat conditions such as heart disease, Parkinson's, osteoporosis and spinal cord injuries.

But Professor Peter Braude, of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: This proposal provides a long-term insurance lottery that may or may not prove successful.'

The Virgin plan was welcomed by the Health Department, which said it would build on the £100million being invested in stem cell research over the next two years.

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