Future Health BIOBANK

About

Future Health was the UK's first fully accredited private Human Tissue Bank and has been awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise for International Trade.  Future Health holds a full HTA License that authorizes them to transport biological samples around the world and to store cells and tissues for use by either the donor, the donor's family, or an unrelated person. Future Health was awarded with a Blood Establishment Authorisation license (BEA21314) from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the first cord blood and tissue bank to receive this license in the UK. Future Health serves multiple nations and their website is available in multiple languages.

Labs and Locations

Future Health was founded in the UK in 2002 and in 2012 launched a 2nd laboratory in Switzerland:

Future Health BIOBANK Ltd.
10 Faraday Building
Nottingham Science and Technology Park
University Boulevard
Nottingham
NG7 2QP
United Kingdom

Future Health Biobank S.A.
Route de Pra de Plan 3
1618 Châtel-St-Denis
Switzerland

Business Experience

Future Health has been in operation since 2002, and as of May 2012, have processed over 50,000 cord blood and cord tissue samples.

Collection Kit

Purpose designed cord blood collection bag, which already contains the correct volume of anti-coagulant (CPD) for cord blood, packed in individual aluminum sterile packaging with two needles for increased safety. Needles have increased diameter to maximize the volume collected.
Future Health is the only company that provides its clients with an individual purpose built collection kit for cord tissue. The kit contains a preservation tablet and a new improved transportation solution, which will control any potential contamination from the birthing process and maintain the tissue to its optimum state.
Both collection kits are sterile inside & outside for C-Section use.

Transportation Container

The cord blood and the cord tissue are transported in a thermal shipping box that is fully accredited by ιατα and UN3373 for protection against adverse temperature conditions, and carried by couriers approved for medical samples. The proprietary transportation box was designed by Future Health and built especially for them. The transportation system was fully tested and accredited by an authorized external testing facility. Accreditation number: P1 650 Conform DHL / IBE G-07.004. The container includes a gel pack and a temperature logger to monitor proper shipping conditions.

Shipping Info:

Future Health base price includes shipping. All shipping containers are carried by medical couriers.

Processing Method

• Cord blood is processed in purpose built sterile Clean Rooms in laboratories owned by Future Health.  Future Health uses the state of the art automated Sepax processing system from the Swiss company Biosafe.  The processing kit is a single-use, closed system, to prevent contamination and ensure sterility of the sample.
• The lab conducts detailed microbiological and qualitative testing of the cord blood sample, including stem cell counts and viability. Maternal blood tests at birth are carried out with Serology and PCR (NAT) testing. Parents are provided with a sample results letter (including maternal test results and TNC count) and also a certificate of storage.

Components Stored

• Future Health saves all the components of cord blood, not just the stem cells, in order to cover all possibilities of future use. They also store samples of red blood cells and plasma. These samples can be used for future testing, diagnostic purposes, tissue typing (histocompatibility testing) or any other future medical use,without disturbing the main sample.
• Although Future Health stores all the components of the cord blood, they are first separated by the industry standard method of  "volume reduction", so that they may be retrieved separately.  This is not possible when freezing whole blood.

Storage Method

• Final storage is in a bag with multiple compartments plus testing segments, but never in vials.  The multiple compartments allow for multiple use of the collection.  Each compartment is identified with a bar coded cryolabel.
• Before being placed in the freezer tanks, the blood bags receive a secondary protective overwrap bag, which is designed to prevent any cross-contamination between collections in the tank.
  
• Each cord blood collection is placed in an aluminum outer storage canister for enhanced mechanical protection and efficient heat transfer.  The canister has a metallic bar coded identification label.
• The freezer tanks are filled with the vapour phase of cryogenic nitrogen, another protection against cross contamination of blood samples.
  
• The freezer tanks are capable of operating without electricity and there is 24/7 recording of storage condition parameters.
• The cord blood and tissue cells are stored in separate inventories, in different tanks, in different storage locations.  This is partly a security measure and partly a recognition that they may have separate medical indications for use.

Licensing & Accreditation

Future Health was the UK’s first fully accredited private Human Tissue Bank. It holds a full license from the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) (22503), a Blood Establishment Authorisation (BEA 21314) from the Medicines & Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and an ISO9001:2008 quality management certification for its processes and systems, so parents can rest assured that the service and facilities meet the highest standards. They have also recently been awarded the prestigious Queens Award for Enterprise for International Trade. Future Health was also the first UK Human Tissue Bank to offer a service to collect and store cord tissue as well as cord blood.

Clinical Experience

Future Health participates in a number of research projects in association with Universities in the UK that are related to stem cells from cord blood and cord tissue. The projects range from improvements in processing and testing methods to possible medical applications.

Guarantees

1. If the cord blood fails quality control, there is no charge for processing.
2. The laboratory is protected by a 24/7 security system and security personnel on site.
3. In case of a "catastrophic" event, Future Health has a disaster recovery plan in place which allows all of their cryopreservation tanks to be relocated to another HTA facility until theirs is back to normal.

Community Service

• Free advertising and promotion of public banks.
• Free banking is given to families where an immediate relative has a diagnosis for which transplantation is standard therapy.
• Discounts to medical doctors.
• Discounts for twins.
• Discounts for repeat clients.
  

Prices

There are differences in pricing depending on country of birth, so check pricing for each country. Payment plans are available upon request.

UK prices:
£   160 Initial Deposit
£1,040 Processing and testing
£   450 Storage for 25 years
£1,650 Total first year cost

Additional Services

Future Health also offers additional cell banking services, including the collection and storage of dental pulp stem cells from milk and adult teeth, adipose tissue and also immune system cell banking.
•    Future Health was the first (March 2010) UK Human Tissue Bank to offer collection of cord tissue.
•    Future Health is the only company that provides clients with a purpose built collection kit for cord tissue.  The kit contains a preservation tablet and a new improved transportation solution, which will control any potential contamination from the birthing process and maintain the tissue in its optimum state.
•    The cord blood and tissue cells are stored in separate inventories, in different tanks, in different storage locations.  This is partly a security measure and partly a recognition that they may have separate medical indications for use.
•    Optimal methods of processing and storing MSC are an area of ongoing research.  
•    Future Health offers these options for cord tissue preservation:
1.    Minimal Manipulation: freeze a section of the cord a few cm long.
2.    MSC extraction and cryopreservation.
3.    MSC extraction, expansion, and cryopreservation (not commercially available yet)

Prices with Additional Services

Future Health only offers cord tissue storage with cord blood service.  The collection kit and storage fees are only charged once for the combined service.  Please check the specific country of birth for the additional processing fee.