• 
• 

Published on August 31, 2007

The Public Health Ministry has warned families who want to preserve blood stem cells from the umbilical cord of their newborn babies for transplants in case of future illness to think twice before paying vast amounts of money to private stem-cell banks.

Dr Wisit Tangnaphaporn, deputy director-general of the Department of Health Service Support, said he wanted families to weigh the expense they have to shoulder for the stem-cell storage service against the chances that their child could be saved from future diseases by using these cells.

"Diseases that have high potential to be cured with stem-cell therapy normally occur in people older than 20 years," he said, referring to the time that the cord stem cells would have to be stored in a bank before they might be required for a treatment.

Currently stem-cell therapy can be applied to lethal blood-related complications like thalasemia and leukaemia, while scientific research claims positive results for diseases like diabetes, Parkinson's and coronary heart disease. Some researchers even claim that stem cells can be used to repair damaged nervous systems.

Wisit said stem-cell therapy had given new hope to patients and families who suffer from diseases that couldn't be cured by existing standard medical treatments.

According to Wisit, storage of cord blood stem cells, a service that was introduced in Thailand a few years ago, had seen a growth trend and had been embraced by Thais as a precautionary measure should their children need stem-cell transplants in future.

Wisit said the total expense for collecting and storing cord blood stem cells for 20 years would be several hundred thousand baht.

There are at least three companies registered with the Department of Health Service Support to run private stem cell banks in the country.

Wisit, also chairman of the ministry's subcommittee to draw up regulations to control private stem cell banks, said he wanted Thais, particularly those who are not wealthy, to be wary of marketing and advertising of the banks. Currently there is no regulation to control standards in the business.

Wisit expected that regulations the subcommittee is drafting would be completed and enacted soon.

Stem cell banks even take their advertisements to shoppers in department stores. Thai StemLife, one of the three registered companies, recently launched a marketing exhibition in the baby's section of a well-known department store.

"The customers there are also our target market," said Krit Kunplin, marketing and strategy manager of Thai StemLife.

Krit said the cost of storing stem cells with his company was not high. Founded in 2005, Thai StemLife was attracting 120 to 150 customers monthly, Krit said.

Pennapa Hongthong

 The Nation