SINGAPORE: Private cord blood banking company Cordlife has had its cord blood banking service licence renewed for another year by the Ministry of Health (MOH).
However, this does not mean it can now resume the collection, testing, processing and storing of new cord blood, which it has not been allowed to do since Nov 26, 2025.
The renewal will allow Cordlife to continue to store and transfer the cord blood still under its care.
The company announced in a Jan 14 bourse filing that its cord blood banking service licence had been renewed for one year, from Jan 14, 2026, to Jan 13, 2027.
It can continue to operate to ensure the proper storage of existing cord blood units (CBUs).
The renewal will also allow Cordlife to facilitate transfers of existing CBUs to other local or accredited overseas cord blood banking service providers, and retrieve any existing CBUs for clinical purposes such as for transplants.
If clients request that their CBUs be disposed of, it can also carry out the proper disposal.
Cordlife received a six-month suspension in November 2023 after audit checks found lapses in its storage of CBUs.
It was allowed to resume operations in a calibrated manner from Sept 15, 2024, after MOH was satisfied with the steps it had taken to address critical shortcomings.
Cordlife’s licence was renewed for one year from Jan 14, 2025, with a planned midpoint audit by MOH. Such licences are usually renewed for a period of two years.
However, the midpoint audit found that Cordlife had failed to maintain its compliance with various regulatory requirements, including governance, incident reporting and management, as well as processes for collection, testing and processing of new CBUs.
As a result, it was restricted in November from accepting new CBUs.
In a separate bourse filing, Cordlife gave an update on claims made against it totalling at least $5.45 million.
The claims were filed by an individual representing a group of parents who had stored 109 CBUs with Cordlife.
Cordlife had previously revealed that the claimants had sought damages at a market value of $50,000 for each damaged unit, or any other amount determined by the court, and reimbursement of expenses rendered futile owing to the damage, or for the court to order an assessment of damages.
In the Jan 14 filing, Cordlife said that after consultations with its legal advisers Rajah & Tann Singapore, it applied to the High Court on Jan 13 to convert the claimants’ originating application to an originating claim.
An originating claim is filed when the material facts of the civil claim are in dispute.
Based on Cordlife’s bourse filing, the claimants now have to file an affidavit by Feb 3.
Cordlife also repeated its earlier assessment that should it be ultimately ordered to pay the claims in this financial year, this would result in a negative impact on the company’s financial position. - The Straits Times/ANN
