The company has set up an umbilical cord blood public bank for India in a joint venture with Chennai-based Apollo Hospitals and Ahmedabad-based Cadila Pharmaceuticals. Operational by the end of this year, StemCyte India Therapeutics Pvt Ltd, will aid in carrying out clinical trials in India.

“Umbilical cord blood stem cells have become a prime source of stem cells for the field of regenerative medicine for various diseases and our aim is to provide the service of banking cord blood cells to families who want to store stem cells. We are looking at being fully operational by next year in India and will start clinical trials for spinal cord injury here as well. At present, we plan to focus on spinal cord injuries resulting out of an accident or trauma,” said Kenneth Giacin, chairman and CEO of StemCyte Inc.

A Memorandum of Understanding between the two companies was signed at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit and the collaboration has resulted into StemCyte India Therapeutics Pvt. Ltd.

This cord blood bank will be located in Ahmedabad and will have the patented technique of processing and storage of StemCyte Inc., announced the officials of the StemCyte on Thursday.