OLDSMAR, Fla., March 31, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cryo-Cell International, Inc. (OTCBB:CCEL) (the "Company"), one of the world's largest and most established family cord blood banks and global industry leader in innovative stem cell solutions, today announced that the Company's exclusive technology license partner in India, LifeCell International, launched the proprietary menstrual stem cell service named Femme.
"Cryo-Cell applauds LifeCell's launch of Femme," said Mercedes A. Walton, Cryo-Cell's Chairman and CEO. "In view of India's fast-emerging economy and global prominence in regenerative stem cell medicine, we believe that there may be enormous potential for LifeCell to build upon their demonstrated success in the private family cord blood bank sector with the introduction of this exciting and revolutionary service."
India is poised for global leadership in the stem cell industry and purportedly has one of the highest growth rates in stem cell regenerative medicine. LifeCell is India's largest and most accredited private family cord blood bank with over 30,000 clients and over 75 client service centers. Under terms of the exclusive technology license agreement, Cryo-Cell expects to receive future royalties from the processing and storage of Femme specimens.
"After LifeCell's success with pioneering the concept of umbilical cord stem cell banking, we are proud to introduce LifeCell Femme menstrual blood stem cell banking in India," stated Mayur Abhaya, Executive Director, LifeCell International. "Considering the strong scientific foundation of this service and the impressive clinical progress of mesenchymal stem cell research and therapy, we believe that this service may potentially appeal to thousands of women in the country who desire to secure their future health."
To date, stem cell therapeutic treatments in India have focused on bone marrow transplantation overseen by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). There are reportedly twenty-two public and seven private research institutions authorized to conduct stem cell research in the country. The low cost of operations and availability of target participants has made India a prime global destination for stem cell research and development (R&D) and clinical studies.
"Stem cell technology is the future of medicine," stated Dr. Ajit Kumar, Chief Scientific Officer, LifeCell International. "Experiments performed at the Keio University School of Medicine have succeeded in growing sheets of heart muscle from connective tissue stem cells harvested from menstrual blood. When it comes to growing heart muscle, however, the connective tissue stem cells in menstrual blood have a success rate 100 times higher than the 0.2 - 0.3 percent for stem cells taken from human bone marrow."
Since 2007, Cryo-Cell has formalized nearly one dozen collaborative R&D agreements with leading global stem cell researchers who licensed proprietary menstrual stem cell technology to conduct promising pre-clinical (non-human) studies. The collective body of ongoing research may potentially change the types of therapies used to diagnose or treat a host of significant medical conditions in the future affecting hundreds of millions worldwide such as diabetes, stroke, liver disease, multiple sclerosis (MS) and heart disease.
About LifeCell International Pvt. Ltd.
LifeCell is India's largest and most accredited stem cell bank with over 30,000 customers since inception in 2004, and has over 75 centers across India and abroad. LifeCell facilitates the cryogenic preservation of stem cells in technological collaboration with Cryo-Cell International Inc, USA - the world's first stem cell bank with nearly 2 decades of expertise in stem cell banking. LifeCell is the first stem cell bank in India to be accredited by AABB (American Association of Blood Banks) and College of American Pathologists (CAP) for adopting their international standards. LifeCell is also uniquely positioned as a comprehensive stem cells solutions provider with a complete spectrum of services in stem cells through multi-service stem cell banking, R&D, clinical trials and stem cell therapy. http://www.lifecellinternational.com
About Cryo-Cell International, Inc.
Based in Oldsmar, Florida, with over 230,000 clients worldwide, Cryo-Cell is one of the largest and most established family cord blood banks. ISO 9001:2008 certified and accredited by the AABB, Cryo-Cell operates in a state-of-the-art Good Manufacturing Practice and Good Tissue Practice (cGMP/cGTP)-compliant facility. In November 2007, the Company launched CélleSM (pronounced "C-L"), the world's first-ever commercial service allowing women to cryopreserve their own menstrual stem cells. Cryo-Cell is a publicly traded company. OTC Bulletin Board Symbol: OTC: CCEL.PK. Expectant parents or healthcare professionals may call 1-800-STOR-CELL (1-800-786-7235) or visit www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/ctr%3Fd=216498%26l=4%26a=www.cryo-cell.com%26u=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cryo-cell.com" target="_top" rel="nofollow">www.cryo-cell.com.
About Célle
The CélleSM service was introduced in November 2007 as the first and only service that empowers women to collect and cryopreserve menstrual flow containing undifferentiated adult stem cells for future utilization by the donor or possibly their first-degree relatives in a manner similar to umbilical cord blood stem cells. For more information, visit www.celle.com
Forward-Looking Statement
Statements wherein the terms "believes", "intends", "projects", "anticipates", "expects", and similar expressions as used are intended to reflect "forward-looking statements" of the Company. The information contained herein is subject to various risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated in such forward-looking statements or paragraphs, many of which are outside the control of the Company. These uncertainties and other factors include the success of the Company's global expansion initiatives and product diversification, the Company's actual future ownership stake in future therapies emerging from its collaborative research partnerships, the success related to its IP portfolio, the Company's future competitive position in stem cell innovation, future success of its core business and the competitive impact of public cord blood banking on the Company's business, the Company's ability to minimize future costs to the Company related to R&D initiatives and collaborations and the success of such initiatives and collaborations, the success and enforceability of the Company's Célle technology license agreements and U-Cord license agreements and their ability to provide the Company with royalty fees, the ability of Cryology RTS to generate new revenues for the Company and those risks and uncertainties contained in risk factors described in documents the Company files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and any Current Reports on Form 8-K filed by the Company. The Company disclaims any obligations to subsequently revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements.