Menstrual blood banking services in India shortly, says LifeCell

Collecting and banking of menstrual blood from women to harvest stem cells for treating disorders may soon be a practice in India.

LifeCell International, a stem cell banking services provider from south Indian city of Chennai, is planning to expand its services to menstrual blood banking service as well in the country shortly, reports said.

LifeCell would consider launching menstrual blood banking service in a lower cost compared to the current charges for umbilical cord blood banking, which is unaffordable for majority of people.

Umbilical cord blood banking is limited to pregnant women which comprises only a mere two per cent of the Indian population.

Whereas, the menstrual blood banking can encompass almost every woman under the reproductive age-group and hence a vast market in India.

Compared to umbilical cord blood, menstrual blood is far cheaper but rich source of pleuripotent mesenchymal stem cells which can be harvested and modulated to treat a wide range of diseases.

The availability of menstrual blood also makes it a much easier source to collect and harvest stem cells.

LifeCell has received approval from Indian drug regulator –the the Drugs Controller General of India — to collect menstrual blood for banking so that it can be made available for research purposes.

However, LifeCell cannot use the stem cells harvested from the menstrual blood for treating diseases at the moment because India is yet implement regulatory guidelines for therapies using stem cells.

LifeCell may launch the banking services within two months time as the company is currently conducting the validation process, according to reports.

Cryo-Cell, the company’s technology partner, has developed the method and has formed a subsidiary, Célle, in United States for banking menstrual blood for stem cell harvesting.

With 50 cord blood collection centres across India, LifeCell is claiming to be the largest umbilical cord blood stem cell bank facilitating the cryogenic preservation of stem cells in the country, presently.

LifeCell has also plans to tap the Middle East countries. The company has already set up an office in Dubai may soon extend its services to Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain.

Cord care, a stem cells bank to store umbilical cord blood of children as a potential resource for treating ailments, including cancer and immune disorders, has recently been launched in the south Indian city of Hyderabad by PathCare Labs.

Cord Care is a division of PathCare Labs, a Hyderabad based diagnostic service provider with a state-of-the-art central clinical reference laboratory at Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.

Cord Care’s cord blood stem cell storage facility is designed to meet global norms for processing and cryo-preservation of samples efficiently.

Cord Care’s cord blood stem cell bank facility include a fully automated stem cell processing section, testing laboratory, cryo-preservation centre, IT and logistics support centre.

The collection, processing and preservation of cord blood is done at a fee of Rs. 75,000 and the samples are stored in cryogenic vaults for a period of 21 years.

Cord Care is South India’s second and India’s fifth cord blood stem cell banking facility, according to the release.

Cord Care’s stem cell bank has more than 600 collection centers spread across India, PathCare Labs stated in a press release.