The stem cells are a perfect match for the baby that they were collected for. There is also a 25% chance that they will be a match for a sibling. As the stem cells belong to the family, they are stored exclusively for their use.

• Saving them at birth is easy, painless and a lot less invasive than harvesting stem cells later in life.
• Your chances of finding a stem cell donor match are 1 in 100000 and the odds drop much further for mixed race children or ethnicities that are underrepresented on stem cell registries.
• The cord blood stem cells will be a perfect match for your baby, which means no risk of rejection.
• Stem cells collected at birth are biologically younger than stem cells collected later in life and have better regenerative potential.

If the blood disorder is hereditary, the cord blood stem cells could not be used for treatment as the disease is found in the stem cells as well. In these situations, you would look to use a sibling’s stem cells, should they be a tissue match.

There can be instances in which the cord blood cannot be collected, which can occur if there are any difficulties with the labour in which your gynae/midwife needs to prioritise the health and safety of mom and/or the baby over collecting stem cells. Should this happen, you will be refunded the processing and storage fees that you have paid.

Situations in labour / birth that can cause low volume or no collection:

• Placental Abruption
• Placenta praevia
• Eclampsia/ pre-eclampsia
• Patients request for delayed cord clamping
• Maternal or foetal distress
• Premature deliveries
• Multiple births
• Small low birth weight babies / small placenta/ calcified placenta
• Thin umbilical cord that makes milking of the cord difficult
• Maternal health conditions such as hypertension, diabetes

There are eligibility criteria for the community bank. This is because the South African Bone Marrow Registry needs to ensure that the cord blood sample is not potentially affected by anything which may be transferred over to a recipient in need during a stem cell transplant.

We need to look at the biological mother and fathers’ and both their families medical history to determine your risk for passing on a blood transmissible disease or an inherited blood, autoimmune, metabolic or neurological disorder to your child which may affect their cord blood

We will screen the mother for any blood transmissible viruses she could have passed on to her child during pregnancy.

We recommend that cord blood/ cord tissue is banked separately for each child in the case of twins or triplets, however individual cases can be discussed with our Medical Director.

Non-identical twins and non-identical triplets are conceived from different eggs and sperm and are no more alike than siblings born at separate times. The chance of a tissue type (HLA match) between siblings is 25%. In these cases, it is advised to store for each baby as their tissue types are different. Having two units stored increases the likelihood of a useful match between family members and it is possible to combine smaller units should siblings be a match to ensure an adequate stem cell yield for transplantation if ever needed.

For identical twins or rarely identical triplets the fertilized egg divides at an early stage of development and the babies will have the same genetic information. However even in these cases, minor genetic changes may occur after conception and during foetal development. While identical twins are genetically identical, small genetic differences may exist at varying stages of development, causing a low but present risk of differences in disease profiles. For example, one twin may develop leukaemia or diabetes and the other does not.

However, if you request only one collection for cord blood and tissue for identical twins, it is possible to do so after discussing this with our Medical Director. Each case should be discussed with the Medical Director and your obstetrician and the implications of this explained to them. The obstetrician must be sure that this is a case of identical twins for this to be considered.

Either a single collection can be done from one twin with the option to use the unit for the other twin should the need arise OR cord blood can be collected from each umbilical cord (in the case of a single placenta) and combined in one bag. This will lead to a situation of two genetically identical donors for a single unit and hence we recommend that in these cases the unit should be used for syngeneic transplant (i.e. a stem cell transplant only between the identical twins) and possibly not for other siblings. However, should one baby develop a genetic disorder requiring a transplant and the blood is combined, the transplant doctor may decide not to use the cord blood stem cells as they may contain the same genetic problem.

Cord tissue does not require as stringent HLA matching as cord blood so it is possible to only store one umbilical cord tissue unit for both babies.

Please note that collections for any multiple pregnancy has a higher risk of a lower volume with lower cell counts. This is because multiple pregnancies can often be premature, with smaller babies with lower birth weights and smaller placentas. In the case of emergencies where the mother’s health or that is of the babies is of utmost importance, the doctor may decide to abandon the cord blood collection procedure and safely deliver the babies.

Ideally, your child or their sibling’s stem cells will never be needed and should be regarded as an extra form of medical insurance.

Studies in the USA have been done to calculate a lifetime probability (age 0-70) that a person will undergo a stem cell transplant:

1 in 435 people may receive their own stem cells

1 in 400 people will receive someone else’s cells

The total combined number of stem cell transplants is 1 in 217 people.

As more clinical uses become evident, these statistics are likely to increase the likelihood of use particularly for more commonly occurring medical illnesses.

Next Biosciences will always refund the portion of the fee relating to the service that wasn’t utilized. Additionally, Next Biosciences takes the risk on processing, so if for whatever reason there are not enough stem cells for storage and you don’t store, then you will refund the banking and storage fees.

Cord blood stored with the private bank belongs to that family – the parents are the guardians of the cord blood until the child is 18 years old. They are entitled to store the cord blood for however long they like, and they are entitled to donate it to whoever they like. If it is found that a friend’s child needs a stem cell transplant and that their child’s stem cells are a match, they are allowed to donate the stored stem cells if they wish. They are not allowed to receive remuneration for the donation. South Africa has laws prohibiting the sales of organs, blood etc.

Before releasing stem cells, Netcells will insist on documentation from the transplanting doctor. If this is found to be legitimate and the stem cells are going to a registered doctor/ hospital/ institution, we will not have a problem releasing them to the transplanting clinic.

The cord blood stem cells are ready for use. The administering doctor will contact us, provide the relevant documentation and we will co-ordinate the transport of the cells to them.

Cord tissue stem cells will need to be cultured to whatever use they are needed for e.g. bone regeneration or skin regeneration etc. Those protocols are still in development and another laboratory who specialise in this may need to be used. But that is all to be assessed in the future.

Cord blood – there are no retrieval costs. The stem cells are ready to be used.

Cord tissue – the cells need to be extracted from the tissue and cultured. The cells may then need to be manipulated further depending on the treatment required. There will be a charge for this process, but it is unknown as treatments have not been developed yet.

Cost of therapy – cord blood transplantation for bone marrow regeneration is generally covered by medical aid.

Finding a match – through the bone marrow registry is approx. R250 000.

Cost of buying the stem cells from overseas – anywhere between R300000 and R1million.

Netcells has released 3 stem cells units.

We released our first cord blood unit in March 2015 to treat an eight-month-old baby boy at Duke University in the USA.

We released our second cord blood unit in June 2016 to treat a 3-year-old boy with cerebral palsy at Duke University.

We have had a few siblings who required stem cell transplants but these were unfortunately not a match. Our sister company Smart Cells in the UK has already released 21 cord blood units for the treatment for cerebral palsy, thalassaemia, leukaemia, brain injury, severe combined immunodeficiency disorder, sickle cell anaemia and encephalitis.

This depends on the number of stem cells stored in each individual unit and the size of the person who requires the transplant. The optimal dose is 10 -20 million nucleated (CD45) cells per kilogram of body weight. The cell counts are different for every collection and depend on the volume of blood collected as well as other factors in pregnancy. Your baby’s cell counts will be reported to you on your storage certificate.

The average number of stem cells collected from an average volume of 100 ml can usually treat up to a 50kg person, but this varies. Some of the units contain large numbers of cells which would be enough to treat adults with a single unit and others are much smaller and are suitable for smaller children. In larger adults, often two matched units can be combined (either from a sibling or an unrelated donor).

Companies are developing techniques to expand (grow more) stem cells in a laboratory environment, and we hope this will become a reality soon.

It must be noted that lower stem cell counts are currently being used in clinical trials for cerebral palsy and brain injury, as these recipients are often small, low birth weight babies and children.

Keeping your child’s stored cord blood and tissue can continue to provide peace of mind knowing you have a shield against life’s uncertainties. Cells derived from the cord blood and cord tissue continue to have a fundamental advantage to treat disease than cells derived later in life and are a valuable resource to continue to invest in should you ever need regenerative medicine procedures or disease treatment in the future. Stem cell research continues to evolve, and new treatments are emerging. Renewing storage ensures access to these future therapies.