It is announced that the listed on the Athens Exchange companies, Hygeia S.A. and Euroadvisors S.A., jointly with the UK company Minmax Health Ltd., have decided to establish a companies for the utilization of the stem-cell bank network in the countries of Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
The establishment of the new company under the name STEM-HEALTH S.A. will be completed within the next 2 months, with the following shareholding structure: 50% Hygeia S.A., 25% Euroadvisors S.A. and 25% Minmax Health Ltd.
The agreement creates the exclusive cooperation for 23 countries with one of the oldest and largest stem-cell cord blood banks of the USA, New England Cord Blood Bank Inc., from Boston. Specifically, the cooperation includes exclusivity in the use by STEM-HEALTH S.A. of the technology of New England Cord Blood Bank Inc. as regards to storing stem-cells, utilizing research results as well as cooperation in research for new medical applications.
The development plan of STEM-HEALTH S.A. aims at creating stem-cell banks in Greece and other countries, through which the opportunity will be provided for parents to store the stem-cells of their children when born in their own country for a period of 20 years, simply and painlessly with the removal and processing of blood located in the umbilical cord of the newborn. Today, cord blood stem cells are widely used to restore the hematopoiesis and immune system of patients that have undergone chemotherapy or radiation. Until today more than 6,000 stem cell transplants have taken place worldwide with compatible donors suffering from leukemia, genetic or neoplastic diseases.