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Cord blood banking gaining popularity

Despite a low birth rate and forecasts of slower economic growth this year, the nation's two major cord blood banks are optimistic about prospects this year.

Bionet Corp (訊聯生物科技), which posted revenue growth of 30 percent last year, expects to see the same rate of growth this year, company president Rick Liu (劉天來) told a media gathering yesterday.

Industry estimates put Taiwan's market penetration for cord blood saving at 8 percent to 10 percent, meaning that for every 100 new born children, eight to 10 of their parents will choose to save the baby's umbilical cord blood, Liu said.

"Bionet accounts for 40 percent to 45 percent of the market share, and we expect market penetration in Taiwan to grow to 15 percent within two years," Liu said.

The Taiwanese market has a high cord blood saving rate relative to other developed countries, only behind South Korea at 15 percent to 17 percent, he said.

Bionet is the only blood bank company that was awarded a three-year, NT$84 million (US$2.59 million) funding by the Industrial Development Bureau to bring mesenchymal stem cell research to the human testing stage.

Liu said Bionet is providing a new Down Syndrome detection service to consumers which has an 83 percent accuracy.

The Sindian, Taipei County-based company has also just introduced a new cord blood saving package costing NT$35,000 to give parents more options, he said.

Rival firm HealthBanksBiotech Co (生寶臍帶血銀行), based in Taipei, is equally bullish about growth this year, although its strategies differ from Bionet, marketing manager Elsa Yu (余淑賢) told the Taipei Times in a telephone interview yesterday.

HealthBanks offers more uniform pricing and a selection of installment plans for consumers, she said.

Health Banks expects 40 percent growth this year, she said.

David Silver, president of Taipei-based BiotechEast Co Ltd, an industry business and marketing consulting company, echoed the two companies' optimism, saying Taiwan has a very high profile cord blood bank industry and the potential for further growth exists.

As most stem cell research and applications are still in the experimental stage in Taiwan, saving a newborn's cord blood is akin to buying insurance, he said by telephone yesterday.

Meanwhile, Chen Chei-hsiang (陳啟祥), director of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries program under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, said that industry growth would depend heavily on company strategies in advertising and pricing.

Technological breakthroughs in research could also lead to an industry boom, but all this is speculation, said Chen, who is also a director at the Development Center for Biotechnology (財團法人生技術開發中心).

Perhaps a decreasing birth rate means parents will be more willing to invest in this type of insurance for their children, and that may translate into industry growth, he said.
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