Cord Blood America Inc. (CBAI), one of the largest providers in the world of umbilical cord blood stem cell preservation, reviews its accomplishments thus far in 2009. Even though the year is only half over, CBAI considers its achievements thus far in 2009 to be among the most significant in the company’s history. Some of its accomplishments in the first half of this year are described herein.
In January: The company launched its first social media campaign in the industry to start a public conversation about the potential usefulness of adult stem cells and the importance of storing umbilical cord blood. Additionally, the company established its "3 pillars of success" for 2009, which are, namely, organic growth, acquisitions, and debt reduction for an improvement in the company’s balance sheet.
In February: CBAI was listed on the ETF Innovators Stem Cell 40 company index. Additionally, CBAI announced $1 million in long-term debt reduction as part of its cash-flow restructuring.
In March: CBAI was noted as the top stock performer on ETF Innovators Stem Cell index, with a year-to-date stock price increase of 279% at that time.
In April: Congress introduced legislation to promote the "Family Banking of Umbilical Cord Blood" stem cells, which is a major boost to the entire cord blood banking industry. Additionally, CBAI received its first customer in Germany and announced a long-term debt reduction of over $2.5 million.
In May: CBAI announced that it had received $2.3 million for the purpose of building its own stem cell processing and storage laboratory, rather than continuing to outsource the services, which thereby resulted in a further debt reduction of $4.2 million.
In June: CBAI announced further expansion throughout Europe as well as independent contracting with affilates in the Caribbean and Central America.
In July: CBAI has further secured $7.5 in long-term equity financing for acquisition and growth opportunities, while also hiring a separate management team to direct its new stem cell laboratories in the U.S., which will be among the largest in the country, construction on which has already begun.
According to Matthew Schissler, chairman and CEO of CBAI, "On January 6, 2009, the closing CBAI stock price was $0.0017. On July 10, 2009, the closing stock price was $0.0033, a 94% increase in 6 months of trading. That’s not where we want to be, we are still very undervalued, and I understand that the day-to-day swings of our very liquid and volatile stock price cause some investor concern. I tell investors to take a snapshot of the last 6 months, not six hours. Micro cap stocks are perhaps not for the faint-of-heart. We believe we’re building a very valuable company and this snapshot of the past 6 months shows our progress."
Additionally, Mr. Schissler adds, "In January, CBAI stated its mission is to lay the foundation for a much stronger, healthier company by the end of 2009, which included organic growth, acquisition and debt reduction. As you can see by these highlights, we remain laser-focused on executing these strategies. Because of our focus, we are able to raise significant funding to build a lab with the future growth opportunities it affords us. We are also pleased by the current support of stem cell research in Washington, D.C. and Congressional and state legislative focus on family stem cell banking legislation."
CBAI is the parent company of Cord Partners, which was founded in 2002 and became operational on January 1, 2003. According to the company’s website, "Cord Partners, a Cord Blood America company, has established itself as a platinum standard national competitor in the umbilical cord blood storage industry… CBAI was founded on a simple principle: The families who seek stem cell preservation should never have to work to achieve this. By bundling such services as medical kit preparation, medical courier arrangement, 24/7 customer service, easy enrollment, and one price for all services, we feel an unparalleled commitment to our clinets, and have the foundation for providing the highest quality stem cell preservation available."
Umbilical cord blood is an extremely rich source of highly potent adult stem cells, such as mesenchymal stem cells and CD34+ cells, which have already been in use for decades in the clinical treatment of various diseases, safely and without side effects. Unlike embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood are ethically noncontroversial, as umbilical cord blood is easily and harmlessly collectable.