Why Progenics does not offer lifetime banking
With the advances in medical breakthroughs, such as AI, stem cells and gene therapies, children born today may have life expectancies that routinely surpass 100. Some scientists believe we may one day halt or even reverse the process of aging itself. Offering "lifetime" banking when life expectancies are expected to surpass 100, and as stem cell breakthroughs increase the chances that your child may one day need their banked stem cells, is not honest, responsible or sustainable. This is why at Progenics, the longest storage plan we offer is an initial 30-year storage with 10 year renewals.
Theoretically, stem cells preserved in liquid nitrogen remain viable indefinitely as long as cryogenic temperatures are maintained throughout the entire storage period. However, since the opening of the first cord blood bank in 1992, stability studies are still ongoing to demonstrate that stem cells stored remain viable, potent and suitable for administration after a "lifetime". The longest published literature of viable cryogenically frozen cord blood stem cells sample date goes back 29 years. The record for longest storage of a stem cell is from sheep sperm, which was used to successful fertilize eggs after 50 years in cryogenic storage.
There is no published stability studies on stored cord blood units to verify the successful "lifetime" viability and potency of cord blood derived stem cells collected, processed, cryopreserved and stored using different procedures performed by different Cord Blood Banks at the national and international levels. However, at Progenics, we are participating in performing stability studies to ensure that our oldest samples remain viable and ready for regenerative therapies.