05
d'Abril
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2016 - 05:37
The preservation of stem cells taken from umbilical cord blood and tissue became famous in Spain when the current monarchs Felipe and Letícia commissioned the service from an American company on the birth of their two daughters. Other famous figures and elite sports people have also opted for this type of insurance again a score of blood disorders, such as leukaemia, anaemia or tumours.
However, since 2007, the company Sevibe (Seguridad para la Vida de tu Bebé), headed by the new president of Aijec, Eloi Palà, aims to bring this option to any family. "Often what happens is that people do not know they can do it, they think that it is only for the more elite classes," he reflects. However, the costs have come down considerably in recent years, and what before might have cost 5,000 euros Sevibe now offers for some 1,900. "It is less than 100 euros a year to have a sample from your child, which is 100% compatible, and is available for the whole family," says Palà.
A maternal cure
Sevibe, which has 45 workers, is one of the five companies in the Spanish market. Only three have a laboratory in the country, and Sevibe's HQ in Girona is the only one in Catalonia. It is the lab in which this week work began to double its size. "The service we provide is preserving these stem cells that are in umbilical cord blood and tissue in order to use them to treat illnesses," says Palà. Today, up to 80 blood disorders can be treated and cured with these cells, which "are the precursors of the rest of our organism." These are the cells that can generate new ones that work correctly.
"In the past nine years, the science and treatments have progressed. At the beginning only a few illnesses could be treated with these cells, but today they are also used for clinical trials of treatments for child diabetes, multiple sclerosis or cerebral palsy," says the Sevibe CEO. In fact, any illness that comes from the degeneration of tissue is susceptible to losing the battle against cell therapy and regenerative medicine. "In the long term there is even talk of treating Parkinson's or Alzheimer's diseases. So, while being very much of the here-and-now, they will also be very important for the future," insists Eloi Palà.
The two birth kits
Everyone knows that when the day to give birth comes, the future parents have a bag ready to take with them to the hospital. Sevibe's clients, however, have another bag ready: the kit for extracting the stem cells. "Parents have a kit prepared for the birth, with all the material the gynaecologist needs for the extraction. When the moment comes, they alert their health assistant who goes to the hospital and manages the transport to our laboratory," Palà says.
It is thus a service available 365 days a year. "There is only a short time that the umbilical cord stem cells can be collected, which is during the birth. Moreover, they have a limited lifespan and we have to get them to the laboratory as soon as possible in case they die during the trip," says the head of Sevibe.
This is when "stopping the biological clock" happens. Once the cells have been frozen, they still have whatever short lifespan they had left, but preserved for 20, 25 or 30 years. "We could get an illness in 20 years' time and need the young stem cells. We have them frozen with liquid nitrogen at a temperature of -196ºC," says Eloi Palà proudly.
Once parents have taken on the service, they are designated a Sevibe employee who follows-up the pregnancy. "We also visit the gynaecologist to explain how to do the extraction," adds Palà in explaining how complete the process is. "It begins before the birth, the day of the birth is the key moment when everything needs to be ready, and later the project is completed when the families receive the results that explain how the process went and the quality of the sample and what it can be used for in the future," he summarises.
An entire market to exploit
Today, of the 450,000 births every year in Spain, only around 3.5% involve the preservation of umbilical stem cells. "Our vision is to spread the word, which is a very important task," says the Sevibe head.
To do so, there is a network of more than 20 people who visit families and medical professionals to inform them of how the science in this field has progressed. "People do not think it is expensive; what they want to know is what it is for," says Palà. Sevibe is part of the leading group in Europa, FamiCord, which manages more than 120,000 samples. "In the rest of Europe the sector is much more developed than in Spain," says the CEO.
However, since 2007, the company Sevibe (Seguridad para la Vida de tu Bebé), headed by the new president of Aijec, Eloi Palà, aims to bring this option to any family. "Often what happens is that people do not know they can do it, they think that it is only for the more elite classes," he reflects. However, the costs have come down considerably in recent years, and what before might have cost 5,000 euros Sevibe now offers for some 1,900. "It is less than 100 euros a year to have a sample from your child, which is 100% compatible, and is available for the whole family," says Palà.
A maternal cure
Sevibe, which has 45 workers, is one of the five companies in the Spanish market. Only three have a laboratory in the country, and Sevibe's HQ in Girona is the only one in Catalonia. It is the lab in which this week work began to double its size. "The service we provide is preserving these stem cells that are in umbilical cord blood and tissue in order to use them to treat illnesses," says Palà. Today, up to 80 blood disorders can be treated and cured with these cells, which "are the precursors of the rest of our organism." These are the cells that can generate new ones that work correctly.
"In the past nine years, the science and treatments have progressed. At the beginning only a few illnesses could be treated with these cells, but today they are also used for clinical trials of treatments for child diabetes, multiple sclerosis or cerebral palsy," says the Sevibe CEO. In fact, any illness that comes from the degeneration of tissue is susceptible to losing the battle against cell therapy and regenerative medicine. "In the long term there is even talk of treating Parkinson's or Alzheimer's diseases. So, while being very much of the here-and-now, they will also be very important for the future," insists Eloi Palà.
The two birth kits
Everyone knows that when the day to give birth comes, the future parents have a bag ready to take with them to the hospital. Sevibe's clients, however, have another bag ready: the kit for extracting the stem cells. "Parents have a kit prepared for the birth, with all the material the gynaecologist needs for the extraction. When the moment comes, they alert their health assistant who goes to the hospital and manages the transport to our laboratory," Palà says.
It is thus a service available 365 days a year. "There is only a short time that the umbilical cord stem cells can be collected, which is during the birth. Moreover, they have a limited lifespan and we have to get them to the laboratory as soon as possible in case they die during the trip," says the head of Sevibe.
This is when "stopping the biological clock" happens. Once the cells have been frozen, they still have whatever short lifespan they had left, but preserved for 20, 25 or 30 years. "We could get an illness in 20 years' time and need the young stem cells. We have them frozen with liquid nitrogen at a temperature of -196ºC," says Eloi Palà proudly.
Once parents have taken on the service, they are designated a Sevibe employee who follows-up the pregnancy. "We also visit the gynaecologist to explain how to do the extraction," adds Palà in explaining how complete the process is. "It begins before the birth, the day of the birth is the key moment when everything needs to be ready, and later the project is completed when the families receive the results that explain how the process went and the quality of the sample and what it can be used for in the future," he summarises.
An entire market to exploit
Today, of the 450,000 births every year in Spain, only around 3.5% involve the preservation of umbilical stem cells. "Our vision is to spread the word, which is a very important task," says the Sevibe head.
To do so, there is a network of more than 20 people who visit families and medical professionals to inform them of how the science in this field has progressed. "People do not think it is expensive; what they want to know is what it is for," says Palà. Sevibe is part of the leading group in Europa, FamiCord, which manages more than 120,000 samples. "In the rest of Europe the sector is much more developed than in Spain," says the CEO.