The first-of-its-kind umbilical cord blood (UCB) public bank for India, to be set up by Chennai-based Apollo Hospitals in joint venture with Ahmedabad-based Cadila Pharmaceuticals and US-based stemcell transplantation and therapeutics company, StemCyte Inc is set to be operational by November 15 this year, on the hospital premises in Ahmedabad.

The new entity, to be known as StemCyte Therapeutics India Pvt. Ltd, will process and store 25,000 UCB units for treating patients throughout the world, including India. According to company sources, StemCyte has already matched six to seven stem cells from Ahmedabad, Chennai and Pune at the StemCyte's US facility . “We are committed to start the facility by November 15 and already have a bank of about 25000 units of stem cells. In fact, before starting operations at the bank, our US facility has already matched six to seven stem cells. Out of these, four belong to Ahmedabad, two to Chennai and one to Pune. With this kind of a response, we are quite positive that the Ahmedabad facility will be a success," said Tushar Dalal, president, StemCyte India.

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With an initial investment of USD 16 million, the cost for processing one unit of stem cell is estimated at Rs 25,000-30,000. Apollo may also consider setting up similar facilities in Chennai and Hyderabad, Dalal added.

Besides, Apollo Hospitals, in collaboration with StemCyte, has also announced its plans to establish a Rs 60 crore stem cell research institute in Gujarat to be completed by the year end. Cadila Pharmaceuticals is also expected to participate in the stem cell research once the facility becomes fully operational.

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