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Activities
The Group is a profitable emerging healthcare services group whose business focuses on the collection, processing and storage of human adult stem cells collected from the umbilical cord at birth. The Company was founded in 2000 in The Netherlands, with its principal operating subsidiary being established in Switzerland. The Group currently trades in 36 countries, principally in Europe. It operates four laboratories where it has to date stored in excess of 65,000 stem cell samples, which management estimates represents approximately 50% of the total cord blood stem cell samples stored annually in Europe. The Group is the largest adult stem cell storage group in Europe. In 2006, the Group had annual revenues of approximately € 10.9m and profit before tax of approximately € 2.9m.
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 (please refer to Part 3 for further information in relation to stem cells).
The Group’s services allow parents and guardians to collect and cryogenically preserve a child’s stem cells, contained either in the blood or wall of the umbilical cord, so that they may be used in medical therapies if the child so requires during his or her lifetime. Samples are taken immediately following birth and once collected are delivered to the Group’s laboratories for processing, analysis and storage. Samples are stored in the gas phase of liquid nitrogen using sophisticated biological storage techniques. The storage is monitored under laboratory conditions for a minimum of 20 years. After 20 years the child is offered the opportunity to continue with the storage and, on payment of a further fee, may store their sample for the rest of their life. The collection of adult stem cells from the umbilical cord is widely considered to be non-invasive, simple and safe.
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Europe's leading family stem cell bank - 4 laboratories - 37 countries -
3 continents |
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