Cordlife Group Limited
Annual Report 2016
16
Products and Services Spotlight:
Cord Lining Banking
Cord Lining Banking and Cord Tissue Banking:
Giving More Medical Options for Families
Umbilical cord is the connecting cord from the developing
embryo or foetus to the placenta, which allows blood
to carry oxygen and nutrition to the baby in the womb.
Traditionally, even after private banking of cord blood
was made commercially available, the umbilical cord
was discarded along with the placenta after the birth
of a newborn. In recent years, however, the umbilical
cord has been discovered to contain high concentration
of stem cells, making it a valuable source of cells for
cellular therapy and regenerative medicine.
Other than containing cord blood, the umbilical cord
is made up of Wharton’s jelly, umbilical arteries and
an umbilical vein. These components are protected
by a sheet-like membrane known as cord lining. While
Wharton’s jelly only contains one type of stem cells
known as Mesenchymal stem cells (“MSCs”), cord
lining contains two types of stem cells including MSCs
and Epithelial stem cells (“EpSCs”). MSCs and EpSCs
are currently being evaluated in more than 400 clinical
trials for the treatment of medical conditions that have
limited treatment options today including heart disease,
stroke, spinal cord injury, corneal repair as well as wound
healing such as burns and diabetic ulcers.
Cord lining banking is made available to all existing
and prospective clients of Cordlife in Asia through an
exclusive licensing agreement with a subsidiary of CRC.
CRC is founded by a team of Singapore experts including
an award-winning doctor and a scientist from Singapore
who both made signi cant inroads in the world with their
discovery of stem cells from cord lining. This revolutionary
discovery subsequently led the team to receiving patent
protection in 39 territories around the world. These patents
prohibit other companies from harvesting stem cells from
cord lining.
Cordlife also offers cord tissue banking as an alternative
to cord lining banking. Cord tissue banking essentially is
the banking of Wharton’s jelly as a lower cost option to
cater to the mass audience.
