You are interested and are seriously considering the storage of your baby's cord stem cells and their highly secure banking and guarding here in our laboratory in Switzerland
There is a very Germanic spirit and seriousness here. But in addition, because Switzerland is smaller and has a very long tradition in the pharmaceutical industry, the flexibility, freedom and possibilities in terms of your current and future choices to protect the health of your children and family, are much greater.
Switzerland is a high authority in regenerative medicine, stem cell therapies and treatment, and umbilical cord stem cell research. We collaborate regularly with the medical profession and the major university and hospital centres in Germany and Italy.
We are at your disposal to convey the information documents and the contract. Please fill in our online contact form and we will contact you.
Cord blood processing and stem cell preservation includes:
- Collection kit
- Applications fees, transportation costs
- Cord blood treatment costs
- Quality control, costs of medical tests
- Storage costs - Cryopreservation
Registration
Registration can be done directly by email or postal mail.
Sampling kit
As soon as you are registered, CordSavings sends you the sampling kit within 24-48 hours.
Our very experienced swiss logistic team is recognized as one of the best in the world for cord blood units. United States, Hong-Kong, Kenya, Ukraine (in mid-war) … these are only some examples about parents' place of birth we've recently successfully managed from Switzerland in 2023.
The CordSavings kit includes a compliance certificate. It contains all of the equipment necessary to take samples of the umbilical-cord blood and the maternal blood for serological and PCR tests, an information sheet reserved for the parents of the donor and an information sheet reserved for health professionals.
The CordSavings kit contains the system for collecting umbilical-cord blood adapted to the various infrastructures reserved for physiological birth and birth in the operating theatre during a cesarean section.
We request you to carefully read the instructions contained in the kit when you open it and make sure that the kit remains complete after closure.
What you need to know before receiving the kit:
While waiting for birth, it is imperative to keep the kit accessible and under normal temperature conditions of between 15°C and 25°C. Do not place the kit in a freezer or refrigerator! Avoid proximity to all sources of heat, radiators, heating pipes, over-heated places, windows exposed to sunlight,… Do not store in a car, whatever the season!
Sampling the umbilical cord blood
The procedure is simple, riskless and painless for the mother and the baby.
Only the gynaecologist and/or midwife can assess the right time for taking the sample, the delivery must not be modified with the aim of increasing the sample volume.
The way in which the sample is taken depends on imperatives at the time of birth and is reserved for the practitioner. The practitioner is solely authorised to take the final decision on acceptance of the technical action.
Here are some examples of maternity hospitals in Switzerland in which we are very regularly collecting cord samples of young families:
CHUV, Lausanne - Clinique Cecil, Lausanne - Clinique des Tilleuls, Bienne – Centre hospitalier de Bienne - Clinique Générale Beaulieu, Genève - Clinique La Source, Lausanne - EHNV, Yverdon - GHOL, Hôpital de Nyon - HFR, Fribourg - HIB, Payerne - Hôpital d'Aigle - Hôpital Daler, Fribourg - Hôpital de La Tour, Meyrin - Hôpital de Morges - Hôpital de Sion - Hôpital du Samaritain, Vevey - Hôpital d'Yverdon - Hôpital Pourtalès, Neuchâtel - HUG, Genève - Lunaissance, Lully s/ Morges – Réseau hospitalier Neuchâtelois Pourtalès - Centre hospitalier de Rennaz Riviera-Chablais - HFR Villars-Sur-Glâne
Lindenhofspital Bern - Hirslanden Salem Spital Bern - Hirslanden klinik linde Biel - Spital Interlaken - Bethesda Spital, Basel - Klinik Im Park, Zürich - Kantonsspital Luzern - Kantonsspital Winterthur - Paracelsus Spital, Richterswil - See-Spital Horgen - Spitalzentrum Biel - Spital Bülach - Spital Fontana, Chur - Spital St Gallen - Spital Zollikerberg - Stadspital Triemli, Zürich - Universitätsspital Basel - Universitätsspital Zürich - Zuger Kantonsspital, Baar - Spital Muri - Limmattal Spital - Oberengadin Spital - Kantonsspital Aarau - Kantonsspital Munsterlingen, etc., etc...
As you can see, obstetrical staff and birthplaces all over Switzerland know us very well ...
And of course, we are very accustomed and have been used to treat highly varied international applications, in particular those coming from our closest borders.
Recovery of the blood sample directly from the birth place
Once the sample has been taken, the medical personnel carefully put back all labelled samples and associated documents in the kit and make it available to the parents. After the birth, the parents are responsible for contacting CordSavings to organise the recovery of the kit.
The deadline required for transporting the sample to the laboratory is within 48 hours after the birth. Thus, the parents may contact CordSavings by telephone or email during office hours. In case of a birth during a weekend, you can reach a duty person on the CordSavings number.
Processing the umbilical cord blood in the laboratory
CordSavings offers a set of high-technology and high-quality services. The umbilical-cord blood samples are processed according to ad hoc procedures in force in the NetCord-FACT reference system. The premises are specially designed. They are equipped according to high biological-security standards.
The stem-cell laboratory has criteria for compliance and anomalies. Upon reception of the sample, checks are made: the condition of the kit, the donor identification code, the integrity of the bag, a check on the content compared to the compliance certificate and the reading from the temperature recorder, which ensures traceability.
Then a process is implemented to miniaturise the bag into a concentrate of hematopoietic stem cells, which are then frozen.
If any anomalies are found when the sample is validated, CordSavings will inform the parents. At that time, the final decision on whether to preserve or destroy the sample will be for them to make.
Personalized cryopreservation
The sample is preserved in the gas phase of a liquid nitrogen cryoconservation device. This type of freezer is designed for long-term storage.
The duration of cryopreservation is at the discretion of the customer according to Appendix 3 - Prices of service and payment methods. Cryopreservation starts from the date of birth of the Donor for a period ranging from 5 years to 50 years. The initial storage can be extended.
In the case of a payment by instalments, the customer chooses the duration of the cryopreservation, the type of service and the amount to be paid in each monthly payment. With this data, CordSavings will offer in return a customized payment plan for final validation.
At the end of the period of cryopreservation chosen and initially concluded by the customer, an extension will be proposed 30 days before the deadline, by registered mail, to the address mentioned in the CordSavings register. CordSavings updates its file on condition that the legal representative or donor at the age of majority has informed the company of any change of name and address.
Availability of the sample
The sample is available almost immediately upon specific written request with notice of 24 hours, from the legal representative of the donor or the donor himself/herself at his/her majority, during the period of the contract. Withdrawal from CordSavings' laboratories is free of charge and effective during normal working hours. The expenses related to transporting and delivering the sample to its destination are payable by the donor or his/her legal representative. When the contract expires, the sample is returned to the donor within 30 days.
In this regard, you must know that at CordSavings we are the only ones who have consciously decided to entrust to the Swiss Red Cross our most sensitive biological analysis - PCR testing and maternal serology - regarding parents' harvesting contraindications. This prestigious organization is a central actor of the altruistic cord blood banking system, worldwide speaking. And of course even more in Switzerland where Red Cross is assuming the head responsibility of the federal cord blood register.
Introducing such quality measure give the parents the assurance to benefit both from the best analytical rigour and also a third party complete objectivity like nowhere else. This is clearly essential in order to ensure that your stem cells sample will be actually eligible for transplant. This will avoid any bad last-minutes surprise if in the future a graft is necessary for your family.
None of the solutions carried out by other providers in Switzerland and around Europe (they simply conduct the tests internally or they subcontract to private medical analysis laboratories) have the capacity to provide such quality and impartiality benefits. This is unique.
CORDSAVINGS – independent SWISS family-owned company
Marriage of SCIENCE and TRADITION
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