SINGAPORE – Private cord blood bank Cordlife is set to complete sending cord blood samples for testing by Jan 18. Samples from five of the six affected tanks have already been sent to a third-party laboratory.

The listed company gave this update in an announcement on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on Jan 17, while requesting that the halt in the trading of its shares be lifted.

It had called a trading halt on the stock exchange on Jan 16, pending the release of an announcement.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) is investigating the viability of cord blood units in six of the bank’s storage tanks that were found to have had temperature lapses, which could have potentially damaged the stem cells in the biological material.

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung announced on Dec 8, 2023, that investigations would take roughly six weeks.

Cordlife executive director and group chief executive Tan Poh Lan said on Jan 17 that since end-December 2023, the company has been sending donated cord blood samples from affected tanks under investigation to a third-party laboratory in Singapore licensed by MOH for testing in batches.

“The nature of the tests is such that (testing) each batch may take between three and six weeks to be completed, depending on whether there is a need to conduct repeat testing of donated samples from the same tank,” said Ms Tan.

She added that donated samples from tanks unaffected by temperature lapses will also undergo testing in due course.

“The company has updated affected clients on the above, and will be notifying them as soon as their relevant test results are available. In the interim, the company will continue to work closely with MOH to investigate and address any identified issues, as well as strengthen its processes and procedures,” said Ms Tan.

Cordlife also responded to a Business Times (BT) report on Jan 15 that detailed lapses such as temperatures in one of the storage tanks hitting a high of 20.4 deg C in 2021, and the failure of the monitoring system to send an alert in one instance in June 2022.

Cord blood units have to be stored at temperatures below minus 150 deg C, or they could thaw and be damaged.

The revelations were based on a report obtained by BT that was prepared by Cordlife in response to queries from Singapore Exchange Regulation, the SGX’s regulatory arm.

The article also stated that there were more than 10 episodes between November 2020 and July 2022 when certain tanks had out-of-range temperature fluctuations, based on tank controller temperature data.

Ms Tan said: “The company wishes to clarify that the information on the temperature excursions is mainly obtained from the laboratory environment monitoring alarm system, and not tank controller temperature data. The tank controller temperature data is mainly used to support the findings that tank temperatures are within the acceptable range for certain affected tanks.”

She added that as investigations are ongoing, the company is unable to comment further.