Activities
The Group is a profitable healthcare services group whose business focuses on the collection, processing, preservation and storage at birth of human adult stem cells collected from the umbilical cord blood and of the cord itself. Cryo-Save Group N.V. was founded in 2000 in the Netherlands. The Group currently trades in 39 countries, principally in Europe. Cryo-Save has two processing and storage facilities (Niel, Belgium and Bangalore, India) and has access to another two such facilities (Dubai, UAE and Mannheim, Germany) where it has to date stored in excess of 130,000 stem cell samples, which represents approximately 50% of the total cord blood stem cell samples stored in Europe. Mid 2008, The Group was the first to introduce the service of storage of the umbilical cord tissue and has stored more than 2,500 umbilical cords to date. The Group is the largest adult stem cell storage group in Europe based on stored samples. In 2009, the Group had annual revenues of €38.4 million and profit before taxation of €1.8 million.
Stem cells are unspecialised cells which have the ability to replicate and transform into a range of specialised cell types which form the basis of different human tissues. The application of stem cells for the regeneration of human tissue is used in medical therapies. The development of stem cell therapies with cord blood is an important achievement of modern medicine. Twenty years ago just one disease could be treated with umbilical cord stem cells; ten years ago only a handful. Today over 70 routine therapies and around another 15 clinical trials are currently applying cord blood stem cells in hospital based treatments.
The Group’s current services allow parents and guardians to collect and cryogenically preserve a child's stem cells contained in the blood of the umbilical cord, or to collect and preserve the cord itself, so that they may be used in medical therapies if the child so requires during his or her lifetime. Samples are collected immediately following birth and are delivered to the Group’s facilities for further processing, analysis and storage. Samples are stored in the gas phase of liquid nitrogen using sophisticated biological storage techniques. The storage, permanently monitored under controlled conditions, is for a minimum of 20 years. After around 20 years the child is offered the opportunity to continue with the storage and, on payment of a further fee, may store his or her sample for a longer period. The collection of adult stem cells from the umbilical cord is widely considered to be non-invasive, straightforward and safe.
Cord blood banking is a rapidly growing industry which has evolved as a result of significant developments in the field of stem cell research. It has been an established practice in the United States for 25 years, where we estimate approximately 4% of live births result in private stem cell storage, contrasting with rates in Europe, where the Group estimates currently approximately 1% of live births result in private stem cell storage. Adult stem cells from the umbilical cord have a number of uses and are considered particularly promising for medical therapies. Significantly, the collection and use of adult stem cells can be clearly distinguished from the collection and use of stem cells taken from embryos (embryonic stem cells). While the use of embryonic stem cells in research and medical therapies is the subject of ethical concerns, several religious and regulatory bodies, including the Catholic Church, have expressly supported the use of adult stem cells for these purposes. We have never been, nor intend to become, involved in the storage or collection of embryonic stem cells.
Cryo-Cord is and has been the Group’s core business during the entire period covered by the historical financial information included in this Prospectus. Cryo-Cord involves the provision of materials and standard operating procedures for the collection, processing, preservation and storage of haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) taken from the umbilical cord blood, as well as the collection, processing, preservation and storage of the umbilical cord tissue containing mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), the latter being a new feature we added to the Group’s Cryo-Cord service in June 2008 in addition to, and separate from, the collection of HSCs taken from the cord blood. The Group is currently developing a new service, Cryo-Lip, which it intend to introduce to the market in the first half year of 2010. Cryo-Lip involves the collection, processing, preservation and storage of fat tissue containing MSCs obtained via liposuction from adults. In addition, we are looking to develop other sources of income which are based on cryopreservation techniques and processes. The Group developd a new service, Cryo-Lip, which it introduced to the market in the first half year of 2010. Cryo-Lip involves the collection, processing, preservation and storage of fat tissue containing MSCs obtained via liposuction from adults. In addition, we are looking to develop other sources of income which are based on cryopreservation techniques and processes.
