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Lazaron Biotechnologies (SA) Limited (Registration
no. 2004/004630/06)
Lazaron is a public company supported by over 600 share-
holders. Lazaron was the first cord stem cell bank in South
Africa and has provided services to thousands of parents
since 2005. The Company operates from a laboratory in
Cape Town which is currently being taken over by Cryo-
Save South Africa. Lazaron will in the future focus increas-
ingly on the marketing of stem cell storage. Lazaron has
strategic alliances in the South African medical industry
which has entrenched the company and its products as
an industry standard.
Cord blood is generally defined as blood contained within
the umbilical cord and contiguous placental circulation.
The stem cells harvested from this source help the embryo
develop into a fully grown baby. As the baby develops, the
umbilical cord and the populating red blood cells also
grow and multiply to provide it with nutrition and oxygen.
Cord stem cells can be harvested from the umbilical cord
of new-born babies without any risk to mother or infant,
and it is a painless procedure. The number of stem cells
available for storage relates directly to the volume of cord
blood that is collected after birth.
The cells can only be collected for a limited period imme-
diately after birth and the non-invasive procedure takes
the health care professional around five minutes to per-
form. The collection can be performed after either natural
birth or caesarean section. The risk of viral infection in the
stored stem cells is considered extremely low if adequate
screening procedures are performed pre-birth. For this
reason Lazaron requires the patient to undergo a series of
blood tests between two and three weeks prior to delivery
date, including Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Hepatitis
B, Hepatitis C, Syphilis and Cytomegalo Virus. These tests
can be performed at any registered pathology laboratory.
In terms of current medical knowledge, the probability of
a young child requiring stem cells for a transplant is in the
order of 1:2700.Umbilical cord stem cells are also the most
suitable for donating to other family members, including
the parents.
Lazaron has further advanced its leadership in the field
of stem cell technology with developments in animal re-
search which have resulted in advanced equine therapies
amongst others. These developments have taken place in
conjunction with leading South African universities and
all facilities are divorced from the laboratory in Cape Town.
Cryo-Save South Africa (Pty) Ltd (Registration no.
2010/009754/07)
Cryo-Save NV is the largest European stem cell bank-
ing organisation and has subsidiaries or agents in over
40 countries around the world. Cryo-Save NV, listed on the
Dutch stock exchange, is an internationally recognised
leader in the field of stem cell harvesting and storage. JDH
and Cryo-Save NV have entered into a venture to establish
a fully fledged stem cell harvesting and storage facility in
Cape Town. Cryo-Save NV preforms most of its process-
ing and storage in its state of the art laboratory in Niel
Belgium which reached a milestone 200 000 storages in
November 2011.
The use of stem cell technology in the treatment of life
threatening diseases has increased significantly over the
past decade resulting in therapies for over 70 diseases
now being applied. The use of cord blood as the source of
stem cell is also increasing as can be seen from the chart
below. In 27 states in the USA doctors are now required
to inform prospective parents of the potential to harvest
and store stem cells from the umbilical cord at birth. More
recently the use of stem cells for cosmetic and post injury
healing therapies have been established.
Cryo-Save SA provides for the harvesting and banking of
stem cells from both cord blood (hematopoietic) as well
as cord tissue (mesenchymal) locally. In addition the labo-
ratory provides pre-shipment treatment of samples to be
shipped and stored in Belgium eliminating the transport
risk associated with international transport.
Cryo-Save SA broke all previous sales records during the
first two months of operation improving substantially