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Cord Blood Banks in Greece
The History of Umbilical Cord Blood Banks in Greece
In 2004, advertising representing umbilical cord blood banks, headquartered in Europe and the United States, appeared in Greece. Some of these were banks that existed only online without local offices in Greece, and through aggressive marketing strategies, they convinced certain parents to choose them for storing their children’s stem cells. Later, many of these websites disappeared, leaving parents without any access to their children’s stored cells.
Also in 2004, the first Greek public cord blood bank was established in Athens, which remains active to this day. A year later, in 2005, the first Greek private cord blood bank was founded. By 2010, there were 23 banks operating in Greece: 13 with laboratories in the country and 10 with laboratories abroad working through local representatives. Two of the private Greek banks operated in collaboration with major research institutes—the National Center for Scientific Research “Demokritos” and the National Hellenic Research Foundation. Today, no cord blood laboratories remain within these institutes. By 2010, two more public banks had opened, one in Thessaloniki, in north Greece, and one in Crete, an island with a population of 620,000.
Greece’s population in 2024 was about 10 million, with one of the lowest fertility rates in Europe—1.26 births per woman. The country also hosts around one million economic immigrants, who often have larger families but generally cannot afford private stem cell storage. Births have dropped dramatically: from about 119,000 in 2009 to only 62,000 in 2024. In 2010, around 50% of births in private maternity hospitals included private stem cell storage, whereas today the rate is about 30%—from half the number of births.
Between 2010 and 2020, Greece endured a severe financial crisis, during which around 700,000 young people emigrated, and very few have returned since. Out of the 13 Greek-based private banks from 2010, only 4 remain active today. Of the 10 foreign-based private banks, 2 were present until 2023, when their operations were suspended due to legal challenges. Among the private Greek banks that are no longer active: one went bankrupt, one operates under a prosecutor’s mandate to maintain the stem cells, and the rest have either suspended operations and transferred their units to active banks, or merged with others, or maintain inventory but stopped accepting new samples. All of the 3 public Greek banks remain active, as their operating costs are covered by the hospitals in which they are based, and they may offer private storage of cord tissue alongside their public cord blood services.
The Current Legal Framework of Cord Blood Banking in Greece
Since 2004, Greece harmonized the national legislation on human tissues and cells with European Parliament Directive 2004/23/EC. Greece is also harmonized with standards established by the Council of 31.3.2004 (EEL102/7.4.2004), and with subsequent related directives 2006/17/EC (EEL 38/9.2.2006) and 2006/86/EC (EEL 294/25.10.2006) (A’ 51), as well as the annexes of the above decree as it is in force after the issuance of Presidential Degree 129/2016 (A’ 229).
In 2009, Greece issued the first temporary operating national license to the National Hellenic Research Foundation’s stem cell bank in Athens, in collaboration with the private bank Biohellenika. This license remained provisional until 2017, when the law was completed and the first permanent license was granted in 2021. In the meantime, the National Hellenic Research Foundation’s stem cell bank decided to suspend its operation. The new licenses are valid for 3 years and then must be renewed. Also in 2009, Biohellenika’s laboratory in Thessaloniki was licensed by the Ministry of Development and the Ministry of Health. None of the other private banks, whether based in Greece or abroad, had any form of license until recently; however they operated under the authorities’ knowledge.
According to the Terms and Conditions issued by the Ministry of Health in 2017 (and enforced in 2020), all cord blood banks are required to comply with FACT standards and obtain FACT accreditation within four years after the first license. This requirement applies to both public and private banks. The Ministry of Health criteria for acceptance of cord blood collections are stricter than the FACT standards: TNCs must exceed 9×10⁸, the minimum collection volume must be 60 ml, and CD34+ counts must be at least 3×10⁶.
Additionally, each private bank, upon first receiving a license, must deposit the amount of €100,000 into a Ministry of Health account as a performance bond. In case of bankruptcy, these funds ensure the supply of liquid nitrogen to preserve the samples. The law also requires that each private bank must have two directors as employees: one must be a hematologist with at least five years of experience in transplantations (Medical Director), and the other (Director) can be from any field, even economics. In reality, a hematologist can cover both positions. In practice, to comply with the law the papers for each bank show two directors, one as medical director and the other as financial director.
Since hematopoietic transplants in Greece are legally performed only in public hospitals, medical directors for private banks must be recruited from public transplant units. However, the doctors employed by public hospitals are civil servants that cannot legally work in the private sector. Certain hematologists arranged exemptions that would allow them to serve as medical directors in private banks while still being paid tax-free as civil servants. Ultimately, none of the private banks employed these individuals, but instead hired repatriated hematologists with relevant transplant experience from abroad.
The Environment for Private Bank Viability - Political
Despite broad public interest in stem cell storage, whether in private or public banks, from 2008 to 2018 private banks in Greece faced a relentless, organized campaign against them. The opposition came from the Hellenic Hematology Association, independent hematologists, directors of transplant units, and directors of public banks—many of whom held overlapping positions.
A lobbying network was formed that involved journalists, scientists living abroad, volunteer blood donors and various social groups. The lobbying appeared almost daily in the media—newspapers, magazines, and popular television shows. Media access was free for them, while the costs for private banks were prohibitively high. Private banks were excluded entirely from such broadcasts.
Media coverage characterized private banks as profit-driven, scientifically inadequate, and offering unnecessary (useless) services. This targeted messaging significantly damaged the cord blood sector financially and its effects lasted for years. Many of these programs remain online today, continuing to influence parents. Interestingly, no objections were raised during the first four years of private cord blood banking in Greece, when stem cells were being exported abroad without licenses; opposition began only once private banks were established in Greece and gained social acceptance.
Police from the Ministry of Health raided all of the private banks, and most were dragged into long trials for operating without licenses—even though license applications had been submitted a decade earlier and left unanswered. Today, the 4 active private banks operate legally, having paid the €100,000 bond. Biohellenika achieved FACT accreditation on time, but one private bank in Athens has missed the deadline by over a year and a half, and the remaining two must complete the accreditation within maximum next 8 months.
All cord blood banks in Greece, whether public or private, are officially licensed only for umbilical cord blood, not for cord tissue. Nevertheless, all 4 active private banks and one public bank also collect cord tissue. These banks have informed the competent authorities of this tissue activity, but their applications remain unanswered for more than ten years now. In the meantime, the authorities have licensed more than 80 commercial companies, without laboratories in Greece, to import tissues and cells from abroad, and named these commercial companies “cell and tissue banks”. Ironically, the public bank that is acting as a private bank for umbilical cord tissue mesenchymal stem cells, was the one leading the defamation campaign against the private banks, probably due to financial motives.
All directors of the 3 public banks were members of the board of the competent authority (National Transplant Organization) and at the same time directors of hematology clinics and directors of transplant units. Simultaneously, they were also legislators, auditors, and competitors against the private sector. Although the law reserves a seat on the National Transplant Organization’s board for a professor of biomedical sciences, it has never been filled by such a scientist. Instead, it has been given to physicians of other specialties and social representatives, including patient advocacy groups and the Church. The Gynecology Association never took a stance in this debate, even though cord blood collection falls directly within its field.
The Environment for Private Bank Viability - Financial
In addition to the media campaign organized by public banks, the second major factor that weakened private banks was Greece’s prolonged economic crisis (2010–2020). To remain accessible to parents, prices had to be reduced. At the same time, rising costs for liquid nitrogen, consumables, and accreditation maintenance left little room for financial sustainability. The Ministry of Health also failed to protect banks that complied with its own standards, creating conditions of unfair competition dominated by marketing tactics. The Greek economy today has still not returned to its 2008 levels.
Comparing the two factors—the hostile media campaign and the economic crisis—the former caused greater long-term harm. The organized defamation by hematologists, amplified through their institutional positions, had the most damaging impact. The effects remain visible today, since negative media content is still online, and public banks continue to communicate in the same way they did 15 years ago. Adding to this, the Ministry of Health distributes informational leaflets—authored by the same hematologists—that contain scientific inaccuracies designed to discourage private storage.
Today, media attention has shifted elsewhere, and stem cell storage is no longer a topic that boosts ratings. Society is now more mature and well-informed, aware of the pros and cons of both public and private storage. The penetration rate of private cord blood banking is now about 30% of parents that have babies in private maternity hospitals. Parents today choose among private banks based on their quality and accreditations.
Conclusion
In summary, both the defamation campaign led by hematologists—who themselves use cord blood for transplants—and the economic crisis in Greece had devastating impacts on private cord blood storage. Both factors also significantly reduced parent donations to public storage. During the economic crisis, parents’ first thought was the survival of their family. The information provided by the public banks did not convince parents that the benefit to their family will be greater if they make the donation.
Today, public banks in Greece are exploring the legalization of other cord blood–derived products, beyond hematopoietic stem cells, in order to make use of the samples they have stored and to increase their funding.
Despite the hostile political environment and Greece’s ongoing financial difficulties, private cord blood storage has survived—though on a smaller scale. For the future viability of private cord blood storage in Greece, banks must continue to provide the highest quality services at a cost that is reasonable for society, and parents must see the applications of cord blood stem cells in practice and not as a future promise.