First stem-cell bank to open in second quarter

Hanoi Times – Singapore’s CordLabs Company o­n March 1 signed a contract to transfer stem cell technology to Vietnamese partner Mekophar Company.

The signing ceremony was attended by officials from the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology and Vietnam’s leading stem cell scientists.

Under this contract, Mekophar Company will send its experts to Singapore for training and the Singaporean partner will send its experts to Vietnam to help Mekophar learn the stem cell harvesting and preservation process.

According to Huynh Thi Lan, Mekophar’s Director, the contract duration exceeds 20 years, and the stem cell bank will begin operations in the second quarter of 2008.

Once the bank opens, clients can deposit umbilical cords and umbilical membrane of their children; it will preserve them for 25 years, throughout which scientists can utilize the tissue to create stem cells. The fee is US$ 2,000 for both cord and membrane, but less for o­nly o­ne of the two.

At the signing ceremony, Singapore’s CellResearch Corporation also signed a memorandum of understanding o­n cooperating in the research of umbilical membrane stem cells with the State Scientific and Technological Project Coordinating Board.

According to Professor and Doctor Pham Manh Hung, Head of the State Scientific and Technological Project Coordinating Board, stem cell science is an interesting and important medical issue.

As well as Mekophar, three other agencies are in the construction phase of their own stem cell banks, Ngoc Tam JS Company, Military Hospital 103, and HCM City Intravenous Infusion and Hematology Hospital.