SANTA MONICA, Calif., July 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cord Blood America, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board:
CBAI -
News) CEO, Matthew Schissler, today announced a business update to the marketplace as well as statements regarding the Company's valuation. Cord Blood America, an umbilical cord blood stem cell preservation company (
http://www.cordblood-america.com) focused on bringing the life saving potential of stem cells to families nationwide and internationally, today announced that their inventory continues to increase both in the U.S. and in Europe at a rate above 10 percent annually bringing their total number to approximately 20,000 cord blood stem cell samples currently. Cord Blood's a.bourkas Co. United subsidiary in Greece will expand into Germany in August of this year with increased expansion planned for Europe for the coming months.
"As recently as last October, PerkinElmer Inc., a Waltham company that sells an array of life sciences instruments and services purchased ViaCell, Inc. for $300 million. The valuation of that transaction, based on approximately 130,000 cord samples and the ability to organically grow the sample base year over year, was over $2,300 per sample, which is the reason that PerkinElmer purchased ViaCell. Based on that purchase price, Cord Blood's samples would be worth $46,000,000. Even for the price that we bought three of our competitors for, which we believe is well below market value, and our own organic growth story that adds significantly to our sample base yearly, our valuation would be an absolute minimum of 6 to 8 million dollars. Our current market capitalization is only 2 million," said Matthew Schissler, CEO of Cord Blood America.
"The importance of cord samples cannot be overemphasized. We believe that many more families will participate in our program over time. With all of the new medical technology out there, it is important to realize that children being born now can have a sample of their umbilical cord saved throughout their lifetime. The cells contained in the umbilical cord are being used to help treat more than 75 diseases, including blood cancers and some genetic diseases. At some point in the future, we believe that these preserved cells can be used to treat many diseases and offer much better alternatives to current treatments. It is our strategy at Cord Blood America to continue to acquire competing companies globally, couple that with strategic organic growth and build the biggest cord sample storage facilities in the world," Mr. Schissler said.
Cord Blood America has six subsidiary companies that are wholly owned. The Company is pursuing an aggressive strategy of using insurance partners to expand their inventory.
Currently Cord Blood America has several insurance subsidiaries in the U.S. that use CorCell's (a wholly owned subsidiary) services as their preferred provider. "Our expansion strategy across the country will continue to target one insurance carrier or subsidiary at a time, until the insurance industry understands the life saving benefits of cord blood stem cells. Our insurance channel partners are by far the most efficient way to capture customers organically, thus we intend to grow this as rapidly as our cash flow will allow," Mr. Schissler said.
The use of insurance partners can compound the growth of inventory. Stem cells from bone marrow are used to battle similar diseases as cord blood. Our assessment is that as more insurance companies accept that the cord blood stem cells are far more inexpensive and easier to acquire than bone marrow stem cells, that mathematically they will not be able to ignore the cost savings over time. Right now, two parties pay for health care services, the individual consumer and insurance companies. For cord blood storage, only one party is paying, and that is the individual. We believe as time progresses and more diseases are battled using the umbilical cord blood stem cells, more health insurance actuaries will take a good hard look at the cost difference, and sooner rather than later will realize that for certain families, the umbilical cord is the next great stem cell source.
About Cord Blood America
Cord Blood America (OTC Bulletin Board: CBAI - News) is the parent company of CorCell, which facilitates umbilical cord blood stem cell preservation for expectant parents and their children. Its mission is to be the most respected stem cell preservation company in the industry. Collected through a safe and non-invasive process, cord blood stem cells offer a powerful and potentially life-saving resource for treating a growing number of ailments, including cancer, leukemia, blood, and immune disorders. To find out more about Cord Blood America, Inc. visit our website at http://www.corcell.com. For investor information, visit http://www.cordblood-america.com.
Safe Harbor: This news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created thereby. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainty, including without limitation, the ability of the Company to successfully implement its turnaround strategy, changes in costs of raw materials, labor, and employee benefits, as well as general market conditions, competition and pricing. Although the Company believes that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements contained herein are reasonable, any of the assumptions could be inaccurate, and therefore, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements included in this letter will prove to be accurate. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking statements included herein, the inclusion of such information should not be regarded as representation by the Company or any other person that the objectives and plans of the Company will be achieved. In assessing forward-looking statements included herein, readers are urged to carefully read those statements. When used in the Annual Report on Form 10-K, the words "estimate," "anticipate," "expect," "believe," and similar expressions are intended to be forward-looking statements.
CONTACT: Paul Knopick E & E Communications 949/707-5365 pknopick@eandecommunications.com
