Family Bank: StemLife

About

StemLife Berhad, established in 2001, is the first private cord blood stem cell bank that was fully licensed under Private Healthcare Facilities And Services (PHFS) Act of 1998 by the Ministry of Health Malaysia. StemLife is a subsidiary of Cordlife Group, a Singapore Exchange Mainboard-listed Consumer Healthcare Company. As a group, Cordlife has been trusted by over 400,000 families in Asia and has released 71 cord blood units for transplant use and have also released over 500 peripheral blood stem cell units for therapies.

Cordlife operates Asia's largest network of cord blood banks. With full stem cell banking laboratories in six key markets, Cordlife Group is an industry leader in Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and the Philippines, and one of the top three market leaders in India and Malaysia. Through its majority-owned subsidiary in Malaysia, StemLife Berhad, Cordlife holds an indirect stake in Thailand’s largest private cord blood bank, THAI StemLife. 

In addition to cord blood, cord lining, and cord tissue banking, Cordlife offers families a comprehensive suite of diagnostic services, including non-invasive prenatal testing, paediatric vision screening and newborn metabolic screening.

Labs and Locations

Headquarters & Laboratory Location: B-7-15, Megan Avenue II, 12 Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, 50450 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Business Experience

Established in 2001, StemLife is pioneering the Malaysia stem cell banking industry by adhering to the best practices and follow stringent protocols from the collection to the processing and storage of the precious cord blood. To date, we are constantly striving in firsts to ensure that our client is given the best to achieve better medical outcomes.

In 2004, StemLife was the first company to release first cord blood unit to support a sibling transplants for the treatment of Acute Myelogenous Leukaemia (AML) in Malaysia. Today, StemLife has released the most cord blood units for various medical conditions including cerebral palsy, thalassemia major, leukaemia and brain injury. The proven cord blood release track record is the ultimate validation of our processing and storage method. In 2014, StemLife was also the first stem cell bank to offer families the opportunities to store 3 types of stem cell from the umbilical cord: Haematopoietic stem cells (HSC) from cord blood, Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) from cord tissue and Epithelial stem cells from cord lining (CL-EpSC) .

StemLife is a member of the Cordlife Group. The Group is one of the foremost private cord blood banks to have gained a solid foothold in Asia. In the last 20 years, Cordlife has dedicated its undertakings to achieve market leadership in the industry. Having built a distinguished brand name, the Group continues to strive for excellence by means of support from its experienced management team, dynamic key executives along with its quality product and service offerings. Cordlife believes the Group has in place a strong foundation for future expansion.

The Cordlife Group is composed of:

• ​Cordlife Group Limited – Singapore
• Cordlife (Hong Kong) Limited - Hong Kong & Macau
• Health Baby Biotech (Hong Kong) Co., Limited – Hong Kong & Macau
• Cordlife Sciences India Pvt Limited - India & Bangladesh
• PT Cordlife Persada - Indonesia
• Cordlife Medical Philippines, Inc. – the Philippines
• StemLife Berhad – Malaysia & Brunei
• THAI StemLife - Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia

Quality and customer focus are amongst some of the cornerstones of Cordlife. All of the Group’s facilities are accredited by AABB, the world’s gold standard for cord blood banking. In April 2022, StemLife received its 3rd consecutive accreditation from AABB. In addition, Cordlife Singapore and Healthbaby Hong Kong are the only two private cord blood banks in Asia and among five worldwide to be accredited by both AABB and the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT), another world-class accreditation body for cord blood banks worldwide.  In the area of clinical diagnostics, Cordlife India and Healthbaby are accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP). 

Collection Kit

The kit contains a sterile, double wrapped blood bag pre-loaded with the anti-coagulant CPDA-1, along with disinfectant Povidone Iodine swabstick.

Transportation container

The collection kit is constructed with thermal insulation and validated to maintain room ambient temperature during transportation back to the laboratory.

Shipping Info

The umbilical cord blood sample will be hand-delivered using our StemCool Shipping System, a time and temperature protocol system that has been proven effective in maintaining stem cells within the range of optimal temperature.

Processing Method

Stem cells are processed and separated from the cord blood using a fully automated USFDA-cleared device, the Sepax® 2 automated processing technology. 

Components Stored

The final component stored is 20ml of the "buffy coat" layer of the blood, which holds both white cells and stem cells. Parents are provided with lab report describing:

• Cord blood: volume, total nucleated cell count, CD34+ count, CD34+ viability, ABO typing and post processing sterility.
• Maternal blood: infectious disease status

Storage Method

Cord blood stem cells are stored in 25 mL cryobag encased in an overwrap. Stem cell units are stored in the vapour phase of cryogenic nitrogen tank.

Licensing & Accreditation

• Cord Blood & peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) Licensed by Ministry of Health Malaysia under the PHFS Act 1998.
• Accredited by the international cord blood banking gold standard AABB.
• MS ISO 151897 accredited – Medical Lab Testing.
• Participation in College of American Pathologists USA program since 2003.
• Participation in Royal College of Pathology Australasia program since 2012.
• Cleanroom class 1000 certified.

Clinical Experience

To date, the Group has successfully released 71 cord blood units and 8 cord lining units to support stem cell transplantation and infusions. StemLife has established its track record with the largest number of stem cell transplants done in Malaysia through its 20 years of experience in stem cell banking, working closely with third party medical expertise. StemLife has released over 500 peripheral blood stem cell units for therapies.

Insurance

StemLife clients will be covered by additional protection benefits as follows:

1) Stem Assist - StemLife offers coverage of possible pregnancy complications and congenital illnesses of baby to give you greater peace of mind. (*This is exclusively for our Cordmax+ clients.)

2) StemLife Assured - StemLife assures you of a suitable cord blood unit or RM100,000* to defray medical costs if your cord blood unit loses its viability at the point of transplant.

3) Stem Shield Plus - A one-time lump sum subsidy of MYR110,000** will be provided to partially defray medical costs of transplantation for the child whose umbilical cord blood unit is stored.

4) Stem Courier - Your baby’s precious cord blood will be taken care by our dedicated staff during the transportation from the hospital to our laboratory. In the event of a total loss of cord blood during transit, StemLife will offer a lump sum payout of RM25,000*.

5) Stem 21 - StemLife, together with an International insurer, offers a lump sum payout of MYR 5,000** to cover the remaining cost of cord blood storage if you or your spouse passes on or suffers from Total and Permanent Disability (TPD).

6) Stem Affirm - StemLife will cover the cost of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) and colony forming unit (CFU) testing* prior to a haematopoietic stem cell transplant ordered by your physician. These tests are mandated by Malaysian Ministry of Health and international quality standards.

7) StemLife Cord Blood Network - Protecting 3 Generations of your Family. Tapping into one of Asia’s largest cord blood networks, StemLife will assist in the search for a matching cord blood unit, should there be a need of a cord blood transplant for your child, his/her biological parents and biological grandparents.

* terms & conditions apply.

Prices

For more information, please enquire now about pricing plans

Additional Services

StemLife offers:

1. Umbilical cord lining (UCL) banking – With the use of StemLife-exclusive patented technology, CellOptima™, two types of stem cells from UCL which are mesenchymal stem cells from cord tissue (MSCs) and epithelial stem cells from cord lining (CL-EpSCs) are harvested and stored. These are in clinical trials as a potential curative option to treat stroke, cardiovascular diseases, autism, Alzheimer’s disease, soft tissue repair, eye disorders, and other conditions.
2. Umbilical Cord Tissue (UCT) banking – Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can be extracted from umbilical cord tissue, a rich source of Wharton jelly found at the umbilical cord tissue.
3. Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) – A maternal blood test that screens for the most common chromosomal abnormalities such as Down syndrome as early as 10 weeks of pregnancy. For more information, please visit https://biotech.stemlife.com/nipt/
4. Newborn metabolic screening - The most comprehensive non-invasive newborn metabolic screening that can detect more than 100+ congenital metabolic disorders (or known as inborn error metabolism) from specimens of the newborn’s urine . For more information, please visit https://biotech.stemlife.com/about-metascreen/
5. bebegene®  - A newborn genetic screening test that screens 0-3 years old babies with more than 120 conditions caused by chromosomal abnormalities and disease-causing gene variants, providing an expanded insight into the baby’s health condition. For more information, please visit https://biotech.stemlife.com/about-bebegene/ .