SINGAPORE - An estimated additional 5,300 cord blood units from a tank and a dry shipper at Cordlife are unlikely to be suitable for stem cell transplant purposes and have been deemed non-viable, said the Ministry of Health in an update on April 8.
The latest update comes after a third-party laboratory conducted tests on cord blood samples to establish the viability of 19,700 CBUs in six cryogenic tanks and a dry shipper .In the media statement on April 8, MOH said the definitive way to conclude the viability of the CBUs is to individually test all the CBUs in these affected tanks.
MOH said the study results and root cause analysis indicated the CBUs stored in Tank B and the dry shipper were at high risk of being adversely affected. “The root cause analysis indicated there was insufficient liquid nitrogen maintained in Tank B, which had not been rectified due to failure of Cordlife’s staff to act on and escalate the anomalies. The dry shipper had also not been adequately monitored,” said the MOH spokesman, adding that as a result, the CBUs are deemed unsuitable for stem cell transplants.
For the fifth tank , the duration of exposure to the highest temperature of minus 144.7 deg C might not have caused damage to the CBUs. It added that it is concurrently looking for other testing laboratories, both overseas and in Singapore, that can test the samples to speed up the process.
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