The Director-General of Health has decided to renew Cordlife’s cord blood banking service and human tissue banking service licences for a year with effect from Jan 14, said the company in its Jan 15 statement. According to Cordlife, it received the news from the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Jan 13.
The news comes after Cordlife first announced, on Nov 30, 2023, that seven of its cryogenic storage tanks based in Singapore were exposed to temperatures outside of their normal temperature range from November 2020 to November 2023. MOH, on the same day, said it found that Cordlife’s cord blood units (CBU) storage tanks were exposed to temperatures “above the acceptable limits” of below -150 degrees Celsius.
“When exposed to suboptimal storage temperatures, the CBUs will start to thaw and the stem cells in the cord blood may be damaged. While investigations are still ongoing, a notice to stop is necessary to safeguard patients’ interest,” said MOH at the time.
CBU storage is a service offered to parents when their babies were first born. The cord blood contains stem cells known as hematopoietic stem cells, which can help treat blood diseases and some cancers, such as leukemia and lymphoma, should the baby develop these illnesses later in life.
In its announcement dated Sept 13, 2024, Cordlife said it was given notice by the MOH that it was able to resume its cord blood banking service operations in a “controlled manner”. The letter from MOH at the time stipulated that Cordlife will not be allowed to “collect, test, process and/or store more than 30 units per month of new cord blood from infant donors” from Sept 15, 2024, to Jan 13 this year.
In May 2024, Cordlife had applied stop providing services relating to haematopoietic stem cells, including bone marrow cells, under its human tissue banking service licence. On Oct 1, 2024, the company announced that MOH said that it will grant an approval for an application of the licence depending on “relevant considerations” including whether Cordlife has “satisfactorily rectified certain observations and the potential areas of non-compliance under the Healthcare Services (Human Tissue Banking Service) Regulations 2023, Healthcare Services (General) Regulations 2021 and other related licensing terms and conditions”.
See also: Winking Studios requests for trading halt, announcement pending
“In the event that the company does apply to resume providing human tissue banking services relating to haematopoietic stem cells, the company will make efforts to rectify the potential areas of non-compliance and to minimise any likelihood of recurrence,” said Cordlife in its Oct 1, 2024, statement.
In its latest statement, Cordlife said that the company is not able to assess the financial impact of its results for the FY2025 ending Dec 31.
Shares in Cordlife last traded at 14.5 cents before the company called for a trading halt on the morning of Jan 14.
