Baby's coming in 4 weeks - ViaCord or CBR? Help!

Discussion in 'Cord Blood Registries' started by markn, Aug 22, 2007 at 12:54 AM.

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  1. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    My responses:

    1) No.

    2) Again, no.

    3) Perhaps because it was a self-reported glitch that has been dealt with?

    4) No idea. If you know, why not tell the rest of us?

    5) I'm speechless. I had no idea people still talked this way.


    I feel that you are attempting to impugn my character, and I find it offensive.
    I have integrity; I strive to be honest and treat others with respect.


    mom@cordblood-sale.com
     

  2. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    If you are interested just call CBR up and demand $500 dollars off. They will practically give their service away to get the business.
     
  3. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Ummm... not sure about that-- but I assume many parents now use a "$250 off" coupon, since the "CBR Mom" promo codes are widely available. I don't know if the $250 discount will be around forever; it might be a concession to the recession. I paid full price for my own son's banking.

    mom@cordblood-sale.com
     
  4. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I paid full price for my own son's banking.


    Sucker! Nobody should pay full price. BELIEVE ME!
     
  5. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

  6. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    It's to bad your blood is in those vials. CBR really lied to everyone about those too. They always take the cheap way out. I bet you get a reward if people use your code. CBR will always do the unethical thing!
     
  7. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Vials are fine. They were state of the art years ago, although I think the new bags are better.

    I get a referral credit, which I'm hoping will cover my storage fees; but this month I'm donating instead to a secular medical charity in Africa. There are people in the world, pregnant women, who are dying for simple lack of a doctor's care... seemed like a little bit of $ could go a long way. You can check my website for more information.

    Just curious, why the personal vendetta against CBR? If you do work for a competitor then it might just be poor sportmanship... but this seems more personal or deep than that. Are you okay?
     
  8. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    State of the art when? In 1960? Glad to see that you are happy. Nothing personal against you. CBR is a dirty company and gives all medical companies a bad name. Paying Docs, Bribing offices, misleading advertising, using kids with a disability as a marketing ploy. Most ethical Docs wont touch this entire industry because it is not a proven therapy yet. Did you know that 85% of the cost they charge is profit. A little absurd if you ask me. Almost all of the transplants from all of these cmpanies come from a child in need Meaning a mom is pregnant and has a child with sickle cell or some other disease and the private banks store it for free. Otherwise they would have about 10 transplants with close to 300,000 patients. And most of those kids could have found a match at a donor facility
     
  9. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Well, it's the parents' choice to spend the money and store.

    In my case, I've always been interested in science and genetics-- at one time, 25 years ago, I thought I might go into genetics for a career. Later, when I heard that it was possible to store stem cells for the future, I thought it was a great idea. Marketing didn't influence my decision-- in fact I approached my OB with the idea, as she hadn't done one before.

    I'll grant that the current uses aren't widely applicable, but I'm thinking very long term. When my son is 30 or 40, and is diagnosed with some problem or other, I think that having these very young stem cells ready for modification and treatment will be an advantage.

    At the present time, we just don't know what will be possible that far down the road. There's a lot of research in the field and some things will surely bear fruit. I'm not sure if you are old enough to remember 30 years ago, but imagine a time before ubiquitous PCs, before cell phones, before MRIs... and no one knows what will be possible in the next 30 years. I want to make sure the basic building blocks are available for my son if the genetics field expands as I think it will.

    I agree that parents shouldn't be pressured into choosing this. It's a lot of money and new parents don't need the extra stress. Also marketing inflates the end cost, which seems a waste.

    This debate is going on a little long... how about we agree to disagree?
     
  10. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    This is one of the funniest threads I've read in awhile! Thanks everyone for being so passionate, and giving me and my wife a good chuckle!
     
  11. lol. Happy to oblige.

    I probably shouldn't post anymore late at night, that's certain. Somehow everything seems less dramatic in the morning. :)
     
  12. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Hi,

    From my research, there were no quality issues between vials and bags. I have heard that there were contamination issues, but when I did the reseach, the published data showed no difference in contamination between the two. The contamination % was so low for both of them anyway. It just looked like the two companies were just nit picking each other on that issue. In fact, I read that the highest contamination rates were due to the nurse/doctor not swabbing the cord with alcohol first! Either way, it doesn't matter anymore. Both of the companies use bags now and almost all the contaminated samples (from both companies) we so mild (skin floura from the cord, left over baby gunk), that the samples were still viable and usable if needed.

    I just finished doing my reseach and found that the biggest difference between the 2 companies were the processing results. CBR uses a new system designed by a company called thermogenesis. The system is called AXP. The studies on this process show greater than 98% stem cell recovery after the rest of the cells are filtered out. The studies on the Viacord process were vague, showing anywhere from a 65-81% recovery (don't quote me on those numbers, but there are something like that.) Either way, a quite a bit less than CBR.

    Anyway, I keep hearing pros and cons about both companies also, but to me, it really came down to what was left over after everything was said and done. The number of cells retained and proper storage were the factors that I decided to base by decision on. I think they both have quality storage/freezing techniques, but the processing has to be given to CBR simply because they throw out less of what you want to keep.

    Just my opinion. Hope it helps.
     
  13. LisaGirl121

    LisaGirl121 Guest

    Hi - my husband and I were reluctant to choose anyone, to be honest...but, after doing our research (and we're in Calif) we actualy ended up going with Stemcyte (stemcyte.com)...they had the most transplant experience and we liked that they were more than just a storage business...just my .02. Good luck!
     
  14. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I was wondering if you came across anything regarding the FDA Recall when researching Thermogenesis? My wife and I did a lot of research and when we found that there were 2 FDA recalls in 2008 with Thermogenesis we were quite alarmed. Our OBGYN told us that that the CBR reps didn't inform any OBGYN's of this recall and that was quite alarming as well. When learning of this we decided to store with Viacord becuase their processing system doesn't use Thermogenesis. Just a heads up to you and hopefully you were informed of this before you made your decision.
     
  15. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Clearly after reading the threads, this was a CBR rep vs. ViaCord rep...I find it humorous that reps would stoop so low to insult families who take this cord blood banking option very seriously and want facts with medical data. Not all this he said/she said. CBR and ViaCord have been long standing competitors and primarily focus on marketing, marketing, marketing. Where are the research efforts? ViaCord claims they are research focused but where are their latest projects that don't include the one they had to legally stop because so many patients were dying from the trial?? I am set to deliver soon and have been receiving so much information on CBB and frankly was appalled at how much time the call center reps spend bashing the competitions on the phone. A lot of them were outright lies just to try and get my business. I respect a company that can back up what they say with medical data and facts. CBR had a couple of recalls last year on their collections bags. ViaCord is now getting sued by CBR for using copyrighted marketing materials in their own marketing ads. CBR claims all this stuff about their AXP processing method but you tell me how a company that claimed to have a 96% TNC rate and a 98% MNC rate, all of the sudden as a 99.9% cell recovery rate after StemCyte has proven that their processing method yields 99.9%?? I have also found information in my Doctor's office about StemCyte who although is new to some area practices, have been in business for almost 13 yrs REALLY focusing on research and donation FIRST before they even offered family banking options. They were a public bank first which I respect because they weren't money hungry like CBR and ViaCord seem to be. They also have a lifesaver guarantee that CBR and ViaCord can't offer with a donor unit available to your family should you need an additional transplant unit. I received coupons from all of them and StemCyte was offering $400 off. 47 of the 70 diseases that have been treated with CB have been treated with StemCyte units in a data piece they sent to me, CBR and ViaCord had less than 20. They definitely have the transplant experience because Transplant Physicians have been using their units in 150 transplant centers worlwide, CBR's have been used in 27 and ViaCord's in 30. Numbers speak for themselves if you ask me as far as experience goes. They all seem like good companies but I have to admit I have been put off by all the bashing that goes on between CBR and ViaCord...very juvenile and unprofessional.
     
  16. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Well thanks for your input, Stemcyte rep.
     
  17. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    At least he/she did it without using direct insults. That's an improvement...
     
  18. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I am an expert in professional ethics and after 14 years of experience, I say it should be illegal for on any entity that is materially driven to directly or indirectly engage in or benefit from the direct or indirect promotion and practice of healthcare and medicine in general.

    to answer this post:
    I think that when planning for a 25 years or 40 years future need for the cord cells, one should consider storage. If these cells are supposed to be frozen, then are the freezing facilities located in equatorial areas where a natural disaster interrupting power or backup generators or floods would boild the cells in a matter of days? or is the storage x feet under arctic ice out of reach of mainland and its disasters (like chernobyl)... when thinking 25 years or more in the future, I would think of this.

    second, I would think of the cost of retrieving the cells, will we be charged 100 000 dollars for that? is there a waiting line? waiting period? which company will be crowded? which will have good customer service, 24/7, non-automated?

    Third, I would think of the existence of the company... many things happen in 25 years that can divide, distract (and hence lower quality of monitoring) or bankrupt a company (wars, economic changes, weather changes, natural disasters, lawsuits, diseases, famine, etc)...

    fourth, is any of these storers backed by government securities in case of bankruptcy? and if so, what if when someone needs the cord, they refuse to submit it because the original donor, or the mom or the dad is not present.

    fifth, are the auditors of these companies reliable? will the auditors be there for 25 years and more? and who is auditing the auditors?

    sixth, I wouldn't want a mom and pops company to store my baby's cord.

    there should be a government public company (not public traded) backed/supervised by the social security and the united nations or some other medical/humane entity.

    so if i am thinking long term, I would be making a valid decision by travelling to the north pole and dig a hole and drop the cord there (and tatoo the geographical coordinates to my and mom's backs, which are more private than many papers and e-documents submitted to many companies).

    Cord storage may be a medical breakthrough and necessity but these guys are making it seem like a retail product. I think this forum should be answered by prominent members of the medical community and not by temporary, commission based, part time, online, sales reps some of which never graduated from university.

    I do not but wish to see these concerns answered and justified unbiasely and IN DEPTH (based on independent research and audits) on any of these companies websites (to date of this posting).

    How can companies dealing with such an important thing be private? if the security of the nation is in the hands of the government, the medical decision in that of the CDC, FDA, etc, how can these companies get "aproved" things from the FDA or other governmental entity? I think the government should make a professional (medical professional) entity in charge of this matter, and not in charge of aproving private companies' work on this matter.

    for the short term use, I think any of those companies that charge money for this service and give commissions and coupons and place ads would be almost equally a valid choice since most or all seem quite believable (for short term storage, they could be a pyramid scheme and run out of money), so I would go with the a balance between the cheapest and/or most certified/audited company that I can find, hence there is no ONE answer to this forum thread, it is a matter of a personal choice between the available commercial entities to take care of the medical destiny of your family.

    I don't trust my healthcare provider, I don't trust any private company dealing with medical issues. the medical profession is a vocational humane profession and should not be under the authority of materialistic management. your company paid for research, then sell the research to the government as a lump sum or as a commission per usage for x years, and move on, but don't PRACTICE indirect medicine!

    long live doctors without borders and the United Nations.
    Sincerely,
    a human being...

    who am I?
    am I your brother, your sister, your mom, your dad, your best friend, your future spouse, your doctor? you will never know but you will always have a doubt that if you didn't listen to me and ask for an unbiased medical system, you will have hurt me.

    I could be you for that matter !
     
  19. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    The one thing you may want to remember, is that with all the Baby Changing Station's around and in many public places, you can always "exchange" your newborn if you are unhappy!
     
  20. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Hopefully the pot plants you smoked before that post will still be available to help you 25-40 years down the road. Whooooooaaaaa big fella!