Cell Care Australia Acquires Insception Lifebank in Canada

The largest cord blood bank in Australia, Cell Care, has announced that it is acquiring the largest cord blood bank in Canada, Insception Lifebank. This acquisition is part of a larger trend occurring within the cord blood banking industry, which is the trend of maturation and consolidation.

Over the past five years, the cord blood and tissue marketplace has undergone substantial consolidation. One major event was the acquisition of the United States’ largest cord blood, Cord Blood Registry (CBR), by AMAG Pharmaceuticals for $700M in March of 2015. Previously, ViaCord had been acquired by the multinational company PerkinElmer in October 2007 for $300M.

Human Longevity also acquired LifebankUSA from Celgene in January of 2016, AlphaCord’s acquired LifeSource Cryobank in November of 2015, and FamilyCord acquired Southern Cord in April of 2016.

The merger of Cell Care and Insception Lifebank is a powerful move, because it will create one of the ten largest cord blood banks worldwide, with more than 100K cord blood and tissue units in storage. It will also promote clinical trial and R&D activity between the two companies.

Cell Care and Insception Lifebank Partner for Research and Clinical Collaboration

As stated in the news release from Insception Lifebank, “The combined entity creates one of the world’s top 10 companies in the sector. Together, they store over 100,000 client samples and the union establishes an excellent platform for further international expansion. The coming together provides the two companies with a stronger base from which to expand current clinical trials and R&D activities globally. ”

As highlighted in Cell Care’s coverage of the acquisition, “The transaction provides the two companies with a stronger base from which to expand current clinical trials and R&D activities globally. Cell Care is currently funding cord blood trials in areas such as cerebral palsy and type-1 diabetes. Insception Lifebank has strong alliances with internationally reputed hospitals in Canada, and the new merged entity will endeavour to extend these relationships into research collaborations similar to those developed in Australia. Led by Dr. Ian Rogers, Insception’s research in the area of induced pluripotent stem cells will be leveraged with Cell Care’s Australian partnerships.”