The Hindu Business Line : Cryo Stemcell plans to foray into consultancy, training space

Stem cell banking company Cryo Stemcell says it is spreading its wings - into consultancy and training for healthcare majors, therapeutic applications and even overseas service presence.

The big picture for the next five years is to start a comprehensive regenerative medicine centre, according to Dr S.G.A. Rao, Founder & Chairman of the Bangalore-based Cryo Stemcells (Kar) P Ltd. This would have a research centre, hospital to offer stem cell-based treatments and a cryobanking facility.

The company started in 2003 by six scientists is mulling public listing, private placements or funds from financial institutions to back its plans in the near term, Dr Rao, who has 30 years of research experience in the field, told Business Line.

Stem cell-based therapies, according to Dr Rao, are set to revolutionise future treatment of certain diseases and these applications is where his company wants to be.

The next move is to shift its lab and storage facility to its own premises or at Bangalore's upcoming biotechnology park Helix. Dr Rao did not reveal any investment figure for their proposals but said the company was debt-free.

In talks to set up labs

Cryo Stemcells, said to be the country's first exclusive umbilical cord blood cell bank for autologous (or donor's own) purposes, is in talks with a few healthcare majors, including Max Healthcare and Gangaram's Hospital of Delhi, to help them set up stem cell laboratories. Application has been made to set up a liaison office in the US early next year.

It has also tied up with a few hospitals for limited clinical trials to test the efficacy of cord blood stem cells in treating heart attack and ischaemic limb patients, Dr Rao said.

A few days ago, it signed an MoU with the Hyderabad-based Centre for Liver Diseases to join trials on people with liver failure using their own bone marrow stem cells. Research projects are going on at CCMB, Hyderabad, and National Institute of Immunology, Delhi.