Future Health expands to the Middle East

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Specialising in the collection and storage of Umbilical cord stem cells, Future Health is expanding its network to create awareness of stem cell collection and the conditions where stem cells are used in the treatment of various medical conditions.

Future Health is a cord blood bank, with its own purpose built laboratories and on-site storage facility in the UK. It is the first and oldest private family cord blood bank to hold full accreditation awarded by the UK's Medicines Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) of the Department of Health.

Cord blood collection is rapidly gaining significance around the world, as medicine and science develops new ways of treating diseases. For the Middle East, the treatment of Thalassemia Beta and Sickle Cell anaemia is exceptionally important, as there is a high incidence amongst the population. Even though the regional healthcare sector is growing by 15% per year, in 2004 only 6% of the overall GDP in the MENA was spent on healthcare. In the year 2000, one in 20 UAE nationals was a carrier of Thalassemia Beta trait.

Umbilical cord blood stem cell storage is where cord blood (which is rich in stem cells) from the baby's umbilical cord is safely collected at birth, using a collection kit supplied by Future Health, and, under stringent conditions, cryo preserved and stored in purpose built containers.

Future Health is also licensed by the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) strictly adhering to the guideline of the Code of Practice for Human Tissue Banks and uses the latest processing and cryo-preservation equipment.

'The accreditation and our adherence to guidelines is an important issue to parents, as it assures them that we strive to maintain world class standards by ensuring that everything from our collection methodology, through to our laboratory processes and storage facilities has been rigorously inspected and fully approved by the authorities' comments Darryn Keast, regional director, Future Health - Cord Blood Care.

Over the past 17 years and in over 10,000 transplantations, stem cells have helped treat many life-threatening illnesses by 'repairing' the damaged parts of the body. In addition to the standard medical treatments where cord blood stem cells are routinely used, ongoing research is continuously focused in finding new uses for stem cells.