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A different type of health insurance

Storing stem cells is on the rise in the Czech Republic

By Kimberly Ashton
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
October 31st, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Cyro-Save doctors have started an advertising campaign to inform expectant parents about the benefits of storing their babies' stem cells.
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COURTESY PHOTO
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COURTESY PHOTO
COURTESY PHOTO
Parents interested in stem cell storage must make sure they have a special collection kit.
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More and more Czech parents are buying what could be described as “insurance” against cancer, diabetes and a host of other diseases for their children.
Reportedly, about 1 percent of parents — that’s about 1,000 Czech babies — every year are spending nearly 40,000 Kč to have their newborns’ stem cells frozen, and health experts expect that number will only continue to rise.  
Unlike the United States, where obstetricians are required to inform expectant mothers about the possibility to store their babies’ stem cells, awareness of the option here is limited but growing thanks to an advertising campaign by Cryo-Save, a member of the Life Science group, Europe’s biggest stem cell bank. Cyro-Save is based in Belgium and operates in 36 countries across Europe, Asia and Africa. It’s tiny local branch, Archiv Buněk, operates out of a Prague 5 office and is one of only two stem cell firms that operate out of the country.
Archiv Buněk started offering stem cell storage in 2000, and officials there report that business has been on a steady rise over the last several years, as public awareness of the science grows.
In Hungary, where the business started earlier than it did here, about 5 percent of newborns are having their stem cells saved, according to Zoltan Merhala, Cyro-Save’s regional director for central and eastern
Europe. Merhala, who is also managing director of Sejtbank in Budapest, which is Archiv Buněk’s parent company, estimates that the figures will soon be similar here.
Although the science of stem cell research is still developing, Merhala says he sees stem-cell storage as a sort of insurance policy against future disease.
“You provide yourself a potential to exploit the possibility of stem cell therapy in the future,” he says.
Today stem-cell therapy is primarily used for bone marrow transplants, but the possibilities seem nearly endless. Stem cells are capable of transforming into any type of human cell, be they blood, nerve or tissue. This versatility makes these cells a powerful tool in the fight against disease, because they could replace damaged ones, health experts agree.
“Regeneration would be much more effective,” Merhala says of the advantages of using stem cells. And, unlike transplantation from a donor, there is no risk of rejection since the cells are ones own.
In labs in the United Kingdom, human liver and pancreatic cells are currently being grown, Merhala says. And if the theory stands, the science will one day advance to a point where new pancreatic cells could be used to replace damaged cells that don’t produce insulin, which would mean a cure for diabetes.
“Stem cell research is in fast progress. There are lots of published case reports of success with stem-cell treatment. But the data is absolutely insufficient to recommend stem-cell [therapy] for routine practice,” says Dr. Tomáš Binder, an obstetrician at Motol Hospital in Prague 5, who works with Archiv Buněk. “Nobody knows where the research will be in the next 10 years.”
Still, storage of the cells could be helpful in the future, he says.
“We wish all parents never come into the situation to think over the stem cell applications for their child,” Binder adds. “It is highly probable that such a situation will never happen. On the other hand, one never knows, and birth is the only situation when you can easily get the sufficient amount of stem cells for your child. So we can say that it is some kind of life insurance.”
It is important that parents make the
decision whether or not to store their baby’s stem cells in advance of the birth, the doctors note. Ideally, Merhala says, the parents should make the decision at least a month before birth so that they can make sure to have the special collection kit delivered to them in time.
After birth but before the placenta is delivered, 1.5 deciliters of blood are taken from the umbilical cord on the side of the placenta, which contains the stem cells. The procedure, Merhala stresses, does not harm the mother or the child at all. In fact, the placenta would just be thrown away after birth anyway. The sterilized sample is then packed, kept at a steady temperature and taken to the lab, where it is divided into two parts and deep-frozen, using liquid nitrogen, within 48 hours, Merhala says. For security against destruction of the sample, one part is kept at a storage facility in Belgium, the other at a facility in the Netherlands.
Merhala says that he is aware of the expenses surrounding the procedure and says his company offers 12- and 24-month payment plans. This sum covers storage for 20 years. Six months before the term is up, the owner of the stem cells, who would then be an adult, is notified and given the option to store the cells longer.
More information can be found at www.cryo-save.com or www.archivbunek.cz.

Kimberly Ashton can be reached at kashton@praguepost.com


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