LifeCell International, India's premier stem cell bank and mother & child diagnostics company, on August 20 announced the introduction of a new premier cord blood processing technology 'PrepaCyte-CB ' which ensures highest yield of stem cells while harvesting stem cells from the baby's umbilical cord blood.

PrepaCyte-CB is a sterile, US FDA 510K approved closed processing system manufactured under US FDA's current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP). It is a completely closed, sterile system that greatly reduces the chance for contamination during processing.

The most important benefit is that PrepaCyte-CB processed cord blood samples have shown the fastest recovery for patients post stem cell transplantation compared to other methods. This means the patient will spend less time in the vital stage where they don't have an immune system capable of fighting micro-organisms that can cause diseases. Hence effectively this can also translate to less time in the hospital and less stress and worry, waiting for the patient to feel better.

Typically, the patient needs to remain at the hospital for 20-21 days whereas with PrepaCyte-CB transplants, this could potentially be reduced to just 16 days - a significant reduction of time by 20-25% in hospital stay and thereby reduced hospital stay expenses.

In an evidence based study, PrepaCyte-CB showed extraction of 51% to 70% more viable stem cells when compared to other technologies. Additionally, PrepaCyte-CB can reduce red blood cell contamination by almost 99% compared to a range of 70-84% in other methods of processing.

Fewer red blood cells post-processing means fewer toxic side elements. Cryo-Cell International, Inc offers the PrepaCyte-CB cord blood banking technology to its clients in the U.S after purchasing the rights in 2015. As technology partners, in India, LifeCell shall be the sole company to offer this unique technology.

Mayur Abhaya, Managing Director, LifeCell International, said, "Every effort at LifeCell is aimed towards better treatment outcome and improved patient care. Launch of PrepaCyte-CB processing technology is another step towards scaling higher quality standards in cord blood processing and commitment to our customers." With LifeCell launching the new PrepaCyte-CB technology, the laboratory and cord blood processing facility at Chennai has been upgraded with complete capabilities to adopt this technology.