Are hybrid umbilical cord blood banks really the best of both worlds?

Since the first use of umbilical cord blood (UCB) as a medical therapy, the number of UCB banks worldwide has grown. Public UCB banks offer the option of altruistic donation, whereas private banks allow a product to be stored for the exclusive use of the paying client. With many more UCB products ba...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of medical ethics 2015-03, Vol.41 (3), p.272-275
Main Authors: Guilcher, Gregory M T, Fernandez, Conrad V, Joffe, Steven
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antigens
Banking industry
Banks
Blood Banking - methods
Blood banks
Blood Banks - economics
Blood Banks - standards
Blood Banks - trends
Blood Donors
Chemotherapy
Cryopreservation
Ethical aspects
Fetal Blood
Health Services Accessibility - trends
Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation - trends
Humans
Leukocytes
Minority & ethnic groups
Operating costs
Private Sector
Public Sector
Stem cell transplantation
Storage
Transplantation, Homologous
Umbilical cord
United Kingdom
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Summary:Since the first use of umbilical cord blood (UCB) as a medical therapy, the number of UCB banks worldwide has grown. Public UCB banks offer the option of altruistic donation, whereas private banks allow a product to be stored for the exclusive use of the paying client. With many more UCB products banked privately than publicly in countries such as the USA, hybrid models blending aspects of public and private banking have been proposed. One such bank is in operation in the UK. In this paper we review the hybrid UCB model and conclude that it offers limited benefit to the general public. Furthermore, compared with private banking, this model provides few advantages and potential disadvantages to private clients.
ISSN:0306-6800
1473-4257
DOI:10.1136/medethics-2013-101673