Cordlife Group Limited (“Cordlife” or the “Company”) announced that it has accelerated recruitment of laboratory and technical staff to ensure laboratory operational excellence as part of its strategic plan for financial year 2024 (“FY2024”) to prioritise rebuilding its foundation and strengthening core processes to prevent future disruptions.
Cordlife also provided an update that as of 30 April 2024, a significant number of affected active clients whose cord blood units were stored in Tank A has accepted the offer of a refund of annual fees from the year of the temperature excursion.
The Company will continue to store cord blood units for these clients until the maturity of their service agreements when their children turn 21, without charge. In the event a transplant physician determines that the cord blood unit cannot be successfully used for an approved cord blood transplant solely because it does not meet the viability criteria, Cordlife will make every effort to find a suitable replacement.
Cordlife has also extended the same offer to affected clients with cord blood units stored in Tank 6 and the dry shipper. The Company will be reaching out to these clients with the next steps in due course.
Cordlife has confirmed that its medical and technical teams, along with three of its Singapore-based directors – Dr Ho Choon Hou, Mr Yeo Hwee Tiong and Mr Cheong Tuck Yan Titus Jim – and Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ivan Yiu, have been engaging with the Ministry of Health (“MOH”) regularly to provide updates on its corrective actions to rectify the identified lapses.
Cordlife’s new sample collection in Singapore has been suspended by MOH since 15 December 2023, following checks that reported suboptimal temperatures in seven of the 22 cryogenic storage tanks based in Singapore. Checks on the remaining 15 tanks confirmed that they were not affected.
The Company emphasised that the tanks managed by its subsidiaries in markets outside Singapore remain unaffected.
As announced on 8 April 2024, cord blood units in Tank A are unlikely to be suitable for stem cell transplant purposes; units in Tank 6 and a dry shipper are deemed to be at high risk of being affected by the temperature excursions, while cord blood units in the remaining five other tanks are deemed to be at low risk (“Low-Risk Tanks”).
The Company will undertake additional testing on more cord blood units from the Low-Risk Tanks and will pause any applicable billings for clients whose cord blood units are stored there, pending the test results of each tank.
Singapore Exchange Mainboard-listed Cordlife operates Asia’s largest network of private cord blood banks with stem cell storage facilities in six markets, including Singapore. Since its inception, Cordlife has processed and stored more than 400,000 cord blood, cord lining, cord tissue and placenta stem cell samples across its stem cell storage facilities in Asia.
As part of Cordlife’s strategic plan to strengthen core processes and prevent future disruptions, it has executed or is undertaking several major rectification plans in recent weeks:
Hiring More Technical and Laboratory Staff – Cordlife has begun hiring more specialists to lead its laboratory teams more effectively. The Company has successfully recruited two additional lab directors with PhDs and implemented a retention programme to foster stability among its high-potential lab personnel in Singapore. Additionally, Cordlife continues its recruitment efforts to further enhance in-house technical expertise and improve clinical governance standards by adding more lab directors to its team.
Cordlife is also reaching out to former staff from its processing and storage facilities in other markets to support its laboratory operations in Singapore. As part of a major overhaul of processes in Singapore, the Company has commenced extensive training aimed at cultivating a stronger sense of accountability and responsibility among its staff.
Engagement of Expert Consultant from the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (“FACT” www.factglobal.org) – In its pursuit of industry excellence, Cordlife has enlisted the expertise of a consultant from FACT. This US-based expert has been guiding its technical team since December 2023 and will be on-site in mid-May to provide further guidance to the Singapore team on reinforcing core processes and on the...
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