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Virgin Health Bank has a very simple vision – every child, woman and man should have access to matched donated healthy stem cells if they fall ill, and access to a store of stem cells they might be able to use in the future for possible regenerative medicine treatments.

• It provides a unique dual – private and public – bank for parents-to-be who would like to store stem cells from their newborn baby’s umbilical cord blood. This means that parents will always have access to these cells if, in later life, they are needed for possible future regenerative treatments.
• It offers a publicly accessible umbilical cord blood stem cell (UCBSC) bank to increase the availability of matched cord blood stem cells for anyone who may need it today and in the future.

Many scientists and doctors believe, as do we, in the benefits of increasing the number of matched cord blood units in the public bank and in the future possibilities of cord blood stem cells in regenerative medicine. Currently parents-to-be in the UK only have an ‘either or option’ of storing their child’s cord blood stem cells; either to store totally privately and keep full access to their child’s cells, or donate to the public bank and give up all access to their child’s cells. Virgin Health Bank believes that its dual –private and public - bank will give more benefits to more people.

While this is Virgin’s first initiative in medical healthcare, it has a track record in improving what’s available for customers. Virgin Health Bank has an experienced team, the storage facility is licensed by the Human Tissue Authority, has gained accreditation by the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority and the service complies with UK and EU regulatory standards. Virgin Health Bank also receives ongoing advice from independent scientific, medical, ethical and medico-legal experts.

In a wholly public bank, parents donate their child’s cord blood stem cells in much the same way as people donate blood – it’s all given away for use by other people. No-one is charged for donating cord blood stem cells in the public bank. There’s a public cord blood bank in England operated by the Haemopoietic Stem Cells Services Division of the National Blood Service, and another in Scotland operated by the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service.

Every public or private bank storing any kind of human tissue in the UK must have a licence issued by the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) which is responsible for implementing the European Union Tissue and Cells Directives and the Human Tissue Act. In addition the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority (MHRA) run a voluntary accreditation scheme.

No. However, Richard Branson has made a personal commitment that all future proceeds from Virgin Health Bank to the Virgin Group will be donated to initiatives that are helping to fully realise the potential of cord blood stem cells.

The chances of an autologous transplant (using their own stem cells) before the age of 20 has been estimated at 1 in 5,000. The chance of needing an allogeneic transplant (using donated stem cells) is estimated at between 1 in 1,700 and 1 in 20,000.

Umbilical cord blood is usually discarded after birth, and cord blood stem cells could never develop into a person. There are those who feel that embryonic stem cell research is controversial; cord blood stem cell banking is completely different and should not be confused with the issues around embryonic stem cells.

Virgin Health Bank has invested in a team of Local Advisors that is wholly dedicated to working with healthcare professionals who are involved in maternity services. Each member of this team is experienced in working with NHS professionals, they have an understanding of the issues they may face and are knowledgeable about the latest scientific data in this area.

The Virgin Health Bank service, including VAT, costs £1,500 or £1,600 if a customer chooses to pay by instalments.