Family Bank: Cellaviva

About

Cellaviva has grown to become the largest and most experienced private biobank in Scandinavia, entrusted by parents to store stem cells from both umbilical cord blood and umbilical cord tissue. Cellaviva strives to expand the field of private stem cell banking and make it available to all families that wish to be a part of it. 

Labs and Locations

Cellaviva headquarter is in Stockholm, Sweden. Cellaviva owns a laboratory at Karolinska Institutet Science Park near Karolinska University Hospital, which operates entirely in line with the highest medical quality standards and monitored by Swedish authorities. Cellaviva processes cord tissue and manufactures cell therapies for clinical trials in their own laboratory, but sends cord blood to the AABB-accredited laboratory of PBKM in Poland.

Karolinska Institutet Science Park
Hälsovägen 7, hiss D, våning 8
SE-141 57 Huddinge, Sweden

Business Experience

Cellaviva was founded in 2014 as the first family cord blood bank in Sweden. Cellaviva has the only authorization in Sweden as a private tissue bank, from the Health and Social Care Inspectorate (IVO), the Swedish government agency responsible for supervising health care, social services and activities. Sweden has national legislation that forbids sending biological samples abroad after they have been collected in a hospital. The only perinatal biobank that has a laboratory in Sweden and a license to operate in Sweden is Cellaviva.

Since 2017 Cellavivia is a partner of the FamiCord Group of cord blood banks with headquarters at PBKM in Poland. FamiCord Group holds the largest inventory of newborn stem cells in Europe.

Cellaviva is owned by NextCell Pharma AB, an innovative Life Science company that develops advanced cell therapies for diseases with unmet medical needs, such as auto-immune diseases and graft versus host disease after transplantation. NextCell Pharma has entered into several relationships with FamiCord Group. In one, FamiCord serves as a contract manufacturer for MSC products licensed by NextCell Pharma. They are also in a joint venture to produce CAR-T cell therapies from cord blood.

Collection Kit

The insulated Cellaviva box includes everything needed to easily and safely collect the umbilical cord and the maximum amount of a newborn's cord blood following birth. The box contains a proprietary blood bag with CPD anti-coagulant and all the necessary equipment for sterile collection of cord blood. All materials in the collection kit are sterile both inside and outside so that they can be used in an operating room during a C-Section.

Transportation container

The insulated Cellaviva box is IATA and CE certified. Validated to maintain room temperature under test conditions and includes gel packs, to stabilize the temperature, as well as a temperature logger to monitor shipping conditions. Samples remain at room temperature and are shipped directly, to permit a safe arrival to the lab for processing.

Shipping Info

Contract price includes courier shipping, all shipping information is printed on the Cellaviva box. Parents call the Cellaviva hotline, open 24 hours 7 days a week, shortly after birth and then Cellaviva will handle all further shipping. If the parents have requested Cellaviva’s assistance with the collection, Cellaviva will handle all matters concerning shipment. The box containing cord tissue and/or blood will be transported, on behalf of Cellaviva, by a certified international courier service and taken to the processing facility (within 48 hours). There it will be analyzed, processed and cryo-preserved for further storage. The courier service is available at all times.

Processing Method

Cellaviva processes cord blood in a laboratory that is AABB accredited where laboratory technicians perform closed manual stem cell separation by sedimentation and centrifuge.

Cellaviva processes cord tissue to isolate stem cells by culturing the tissue under Good Manufacturing Procedure (GMP) standards. Cellaviva freezes three tubes with mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) and two tubes with pieces of cord tissue. This ensures the possibility to make use of the stem cells at multiple occasions.

Components Stored

Upon arrival at the laboratory the cord blood unit is tested for sterility, viability, and cell count. In addition, the cord tissue is tested for sterility. The final cord blood storage is the separated "buffy coat", a blood component that holds white cells and stem cells. This is stored in two bags, plus 4 testing segments are stored.

For the cord tissue, Cellaviva freezes three tubes with mesenchymal stem cells and two tubes with pieces of cord tissue. This is for you to have the possibility to make use of the stem cells at multiple occasions.

The clients are provided with a storage certificate detailing their unique identity code, as well as all test results from cord blood and maternal blood (e.g. virus antibodies, cell counts, bacterial contamination, blood type).

Storage Method

Cryopreserved cord stem cells have proven viable after more than 25 years of storage, and research suggests they should remain viable for a very long time. Should the samples supplied not meet the minimum requirements, the parents may decide if they want to store the sample to avoid any additional cost. The cord blood units are divided into two blood bags and suspended above a pool of liquid nitrogen, that creates a vapor-phase environment kept at below -190°C.

Licensing & Accreditation

The Cellaviva laboratory in Karolinska Institutet Science Park is the only private family stem cell bank in Sweden with permission from the Swedish Health and Social Care Inspectorate (IVO, the Swedish government agency responsible for supervising health care, social services and activities) as a tissue establishment and a registered biobank. Cellaviva meets all federal and state guidelines and regulations. All preparations are produced in line with Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and are of certified quality.

The Cellaviva cord blood laboratory has accreditation from the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB). The cord blood transport container is is IATA and CE certified.

Clinical Experience

The FamiCord Group has supplied WJ-MSC (cord tissue) therapies to more than 1,000 patients, for a variety of diagnoses. The FamiCord Group has released 45 cord blood units from their family banks for both standard transplants and regenerative medicine therapies.

Insurance

Cellaviva has company insurance in place. The FamiCord group provides a bankruptcy insurance, that in the event of disaser the FamiCord bnaks will protect each other to take over storage responsibility for client samples and fulfill the contract with the parents.

Prices

Prices may differ from country to country. Cellaviva offers multiple way to save your child’s stem cells and various payment options to make it affordable to most family budgets. Visit our website to calculate your stem cell banking cost and choose the best payment plan for you and your family.  (Learn more here)

Additional Services

• Storage of umbilical cord tissue, aka Wharton's Jelly
• Storage of stem cells from adipose tissue