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The global cord blood industry experienced strong growth from the early 1990’s through the mid 2000’s, during which time more than 450 cord blood banking companies emerged worldwide. Approximately half of those companies owned their own labs, while the others were marketing entities or sub-contractors of storage space.

Starting about ten years ago, the market suddenly changed course. It entered a period of aggressive consolidation.

Over the past decade, the cord blood industry has witnessed substantial consolidation, particularly within the United States, Europe, and Latin America.

With CBR’s recent acquisition of Natera’s Evercord™ Cord Blood Business on September 13, 2019, the trend of cord blood industry consolidation continues. [Read more…]

This article is a comparison of the top 3 largest U.S. cord blood banks.

In this article:

Purpose of Comparison
Top 3 Largest U.S. Cord Blood Banks by Units Banked
Cord Blood Bank Comparison: Top 3 U.S. Cord Blood Banks

What You Should Know About the Top Cord Blood Banks

The top three U.S. cord blood banks by the number of units stored are:

Cord Blood Registry (CBR) -San Bruno, CA
ViaCord – Waltham, MA
Cryo-Cell International – Oldsmar, FL

The Purpose of Comparison

The standard used to identify these cord blood banks was the number of umbilical cord blood and tissue units stored by each company.

The purpose of this analysis is to compare pricing and banking services among the largest cord blood banks within the U.S., the most mature cord blood banking market in the world.

These three industry giants also represent several of the largest cord blood banks worldwide.

Top 3 Largest U.S. Cord Blood Banks by Units Banked

The three cord blood bank companies considered in this analysis are Cord Blood Registry, ViaCord, and Cryo-Cell. These three companies are not only the three market leaders in the United States by the number of cord blood and tissue units banked but are also some of the largest cord blood banks worldwide.

1. Cord Blood Registry | CBR Cord Blood Registry

The Cord Blood Registry or CBR is unique because it is currently the world’s largest cord blood bank, with over a half million cord blood and cord tissue units in storage. This is substantially more than its nearest competitor, ViaCord, which has 350,000 units stored. It was acquired by pharmaceutical giant, AMAG Pharmaceuticals, for $700 million in June 2015.

The company’s mission is “to support the advancement of newborn stem cell research, with the hope that the investment you are making now will be valuable to your family in the future.” They provide a high-quality system for the preservation of stem cells and its long-term storage. They created this system to protect the resources that can be beneficial to future medical uses of families who banked in them.

2. ViaCord Cord Blood Banking

Viacord stands out in the marketplace because it became a part of PerkinElmer, a global company with $2.2 billion dollars in annual revenue, since October of 2006. Currently, ViaCord has released the most cord blood units for medical transplant and has the highest survival rate for cord blood transplant among companies that have shared complete transplant data.

The one-year survival rate for patients who were treated with the company’s cord blood units is 88%, and the long-term patient survival rate is 82%.¹

The company’s approach is simple. They apply advanced science to provide their customers a high-quality collection of stem cells and storage procedure. Aside from umbilical cord tissue and cord blood banking, they also offer genomic testing, a diagnostic DNA testing to determine any health issues or disorders before symptoms appear. This procedure also helps families make better decisions in dealing with life-threatening diseases.

3. Cryo-Cell International Cord Blood Banking

In 1989, Cryo-Cell International was founded in Oldsmar, FL, making it the oldest cord blood bank in the world. In 1992, it began to store cord blood. In addition to pursuing a wide variety of accreditations (AABB, cGMP, and ISO 1345), it was the first private cord blood bank in the U.S. to be awarded FACT accreditation.

In 2017, it initiated a $100,000 Engraftment Guarantee (previously $75,000), the highest quality guarantee of any U.S. cord blood bank. It is the only private bank in the U.S. to offer the PrepaCyte-CB cord blood banking technology, a system that leads the industry in engraftment times.

The company also offers two processing methods to their clients: the premium industry and standard, which they promise clients a return on investment. They don’t require an enrollment fee as well unless the child is born and the cord blood and cord tissue have been stored and processed. Cryo-Cell gives a referral reward of one-year free storage to existing customers who have friends or family members who will bank in them.

Cord Blood Bank Comparison | Top 3 U.S. Cord Blood Banks

Part of the reason for the dominance of these three companies in terms of the total number of units stored is that they are three of the oldest cord blood banks within the U.S., founded in 1992, 1993, and 1989, respectively. All three of these cord blood banks also support cord blood research and clinical trials, which play an important role in the success of stem cell treatment in regenerative medicine.

These companies have also been successful with their stem cell campaign and are constantly getting bigger. A comparative analysis of services and features is shown below for these top 3 U.S. market leaders.

TABLE. Comparison of Services and Features Among the Top 3 U.S. Cord Blood Banks

Next, a comparative analysis of pricing is shown below for these U.S. cord blood banking market.

TABLE. Cord Blood Banking Cost Comparison of the Top 3 U.S. Cord Blood Banks

One common thing among the top 3 cord blood banks is that they were established more than a decade ago and have continuously grown bigger over the years. It’s not surprising they are some of the largest blood banks in the world, as they have constantly evolved in terms of technology and services.

Whichever one you choose, we hope you find the best cord blood bank for your individual needs.

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FOOTNOTES

¹ Viacord.com, (2014). ViaCord – Complete Transplant Data. [online] Available at: http://www.viacord.com/Images/ViaCord_Transplant_260_060613_tcm117-153288.pdf [Accessed 47 July. 2017]. ² Cordblood.com, (2014). Cord Blood Stem Cell Banking | Cord Blood Registry | CBR. [online] Available at: http://www.cordblood.com/cord-blood-banking-cost/cord-blood-stem-cells [Accessed 22 March. 2017]. ³ Viacord.com, (2014). How much does cord blood banking cost? | ViaCord. [online] Available at: http://www.viacord.com/pricing/cord-blood-banking/index.aspx [Accessed 11 Feb. 2017]. ⁴ Cryo-cell.com, (2014). Enrollment in the Cord Blood and Cord Tissue Stem Cell Service | Cryo-Cell. [online] Available at: http://www.cryo-cell.com/enroll [Accessed 4 Nov. 2016].