SINGAPORE: Cordlife has accepted the six-month suspension given to it by the Ministry of Health after several of its cord blood unit storage tanks were found to have been exposed to temperatures above acceptable limits. The company will not be collecting blood and human tissue samples for the duration of its suspension.
Cordlife also said in a Singapore Exchange (SGX) filing on Wednesday (Dec 13) that it will not be handing in written representations of its operations to MOH. It had been given 14 days to do so on Nov 30 when MOH announced that it was investigating the company.
Read related: Cordlife suspended after MOH found cord blood stored at suboptimal temperatures
The danger of exposing cord blood units to suboptimal storage temperatures is that the stem cells in the cord blood may be damaged. Cord blood may be used to treat certain diseases, such as cancer. The company has said that it would not be possible to evaluate the financial impact on its performance for the current financial year since the outcome of the investigations is still uncertain.
“In the meantime, shareholders of the company and potential investors should exercise caution when dealing in the shares of the company,” Cordlife said.
It added, however, that it will strive to regain MOH and the public’s trust in the interim and after the six-month suspension has passed.
According to the Singapore Exchange, for several days in February, March, and June of last year, Cordlife knew that its tanks were exposed to temperatures above acceptable limits but did not make any announcements at the time.
The company said that the board had deemed there would be no “no material impact on the financial performance of the group” for 2022 and 2023 after the temperature irregularities had been discovered and after MOH had carried out an audit following a complaint earlier this year, The Business Times reported on Dec 14.
Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said on Dec 8 that many people have reached out to him over the investigation into Cordlife. Because the cord blood under the company’s custody had been compromised, “many parents are understandably upset and distressed,” wrote Mr Ong in a Facebook post.
He then said that investigations into the company would last another six weeks or so. The Health Minister explained different aspects of the investigations, which include determining “the extent of temperature excursions for the other six affected tanks and the viability of the stored cord blood units within.” At the same time, MOH is also working to ascertain the causes of the breaches. /TISG
Read also: Ong Ye Kung: Many parents are upset and distressed over Cordlife’s mishandling of cord blood /