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CEOCFO CEOCFO Monthly Analyst |
CRYO-CELL International – on a
mission to collect the
Daniel D. Richard 3165 McMullen Booth Rd.,
Bldg. B Interview conducted by: CEOCFOinterviews,com BIO OF CEO Daniel D. Richard, Founder, Chairman
and Chief Executive Officer ·
Co-inventor of
world’s first computer-controlled, robotically operated, laser scanning, long-term
cryopresevation unit. ·
Founder and CEO of
CRYO-CELL International, Inc., America’s fastest growing and largest exclusive
autologous/sibling umbilical cord blood cryopreservation program 11 years ago. ·
Pioneered
affordable, commercial, fractionated U-Cord™ blood stem cell preservation program. ·
Founded CCEL
Bio-Therapies 8 years ago. This subsidiary of
CRYO-CELL is involved in providing U-cord™ blood to the University of South Florida
for conversion to neural cells for research in treating neuro-degenerative diseases such
as stroke, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and severed spinal columns. The research agreement with the University of
South Florida (USF) a leader in research in the neural transplantation field. Research team includes Dr. Paul Sanberg, Dr. Juan
Sanchez-Ramos, and Dr. Allison Wheeling). Dr.
Sanberg recently presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science
(AAAS) in San Francisco. ·
Negotiated world
marketing rights for any pharmaceuticals developed by USF utilizing cord blood from their
research program. Funded initial research,
co-inventor on joint patent application utilizing cord blood for developing therapies to
treat neuro-generative diseases. ·
Co-inventor of
worlds largest capacity, computer-controlled, robotically operated, laser scanning DNA
cellular storage system. ·
Founded Stem Cell
Preservation, Inc. which will be involved in dealing with adult peripheral stem cells. ·
Negotiated and
signed all agreements for CRYO-CELL’s expansion into Europe, Mexico and Central
America. Advised CRYO-CELL Europe management
to approach insurance companies to provide coverage for their expectant parent
policyholders committed to and invested U.S. $1,000,000 once the insurance companies
agreed to provide this maternity coverage and also
invested one million euros. ·
Negotiating other
license agreements in South America, and Asia. ·
Founder and first
Director and Officer of Marrow Tech, Incorporated (now Advance Tissue Science) a firm
currently involved in skin replication. ·
Created the
National (and soon to be International) “Save the Stem Cells” program. ·
He made tremendous
in-roads in developing alliances with groups and organizations serving the
African-American communities after the announcement of the first successful treatment of a
sickle-cell anemia patient. This is
imperative since 97% of all sickle cell patients are African-American or other people of
color. About
CRYO-CELL CRYO-CELL
International, Inc. is a cellular storage company specializing in preserving newborn
babies' umbilical cord (U-Cord™) blood stem cells at the Company's state-of-the-art
laboratory in Clearwater, Florida. They are committed to keeping their prices
affordable to make it easy for expectant parents to store for their family first. At
CRYO-CELL, every U-Cord specimen is professionally processed, thoroughly tested and
cryopreserved under closely monitored conditions. CEOCFOinterviews - Mr. Richard, can you give us a brief history of CRYO-CELL International? Mr. Richard: "We started the company in 1989, and have developed and patented the world's first computer controlled, robotically operated, long-term, cellular storage unit. I was literally going to be in the machine business because people were not comfortable with long-term storage of specimens since opening and closing the cryo chambers over a period of years might threaten the viability of the stored specimens. In 1990, I first learned of a child suffering from Fanconi’s anemia that had been saved in France with an umbilical cord blood transplant. All of a sudden I realized that I had to change the course of our company to then become a long-term U-Cord™ cellular storage company. We now cryopreserve umbilical cord blood from newborn babies only for the benefit of that baby, their siblings and other members of the family. When you preserve for a newborn it is a perfect match for the entire life of the baby and a 1 in 4 match or better for any sibling in the family." CEOCFOinterviews - What diseases are treatable from the stem cells that are preserved? Mr. Richard: "That
is an excellent question. There have been over twenty-five hundred transplants now, where
you can use cord blood stem cells for patients with cancer, leukemia and certain types of
anemia. However, everyday they are developing new uses for them. The cord blood stem cells
may be converted into other types of stem cells. This
is why stem cell research is the way of the future. They
could be convertible into brain cells, heart muscle and other cells. Just recently for
example, there was an article about a boy in Toronto, who was blind in both eyes caused by
cancer which spread to his spinal fluid. The
Toronto Globe and Mail stated that the doctor performed a pioneer procedure using the
boy’s umbilical cord blood stem cells to do an autologous transplant. He was successfully treated and in a short time
left the hospital with his immune system being rejuvenated.
His parents stated they wanted their son to be a model for all expectant parents to
know that storing their baby’s umbilical cord blood is “like gold!” I think one of the most important things is the first announced successful treatment of a sickle-cell anemia baby done in Georgia. As a result, I have been focusing my attention now in dealing with the African American people who make up 97% of all the sickle-cell patients. I have been invited in September to address the Sickle-Cell Anemia Foundation of Palm Beach which is conducting a medical forum. We have met with an official of the National Counsel of Black Churches as well, and I have pending appointments with Ms. Cathy Hughes, owner of the largest individual radio station network in America. What we are trying to do is heighten the awareness of all expectant parents that they have alternatives and they should ‘save the stem cells’." CEOCFOinterviews - What does the stem cell offer people with other diseases? Mr. Richard: "After
the baby is born and the cord has been cut, the doctor or caregiver inserts a needle into the umbilical vein; the blood goes
into a closed system bag and is shipped to us. There
is no risk or pain to the mother or child. We
preserve the cells that can rebuild the immune system.
People with cancer many times do not die of that cancer. By treating the cancer
with chemotherapy or radiation to kill the wildly growing cancer cells, it could
simultaneously kill the immune system cells. Thus by storing the baby’s own cord
blood which is rich in stem cells, the doctors can use a heavier dose of chemotherapy or
radiation, because they know they have the preserved cells to rebuild the immune system
and it will have a reduced incidence of graft vs. host disease post transplant. CEOCFOinterviews - How widely is your activity known? Mr. Richard: "We
have launched our National ‘Save The Stem Cells’ program to assist those
researchers pleading to Congress for funding. If
we could get into the hospital bio waste bins and get over 3.9 million of those umbilical
cords, everyone would benefit. This
would include private banks, public banks and research scientists, but most important of
all, parents would have a peace of mind knowing that they have provided the maximum
potential future medical benefit for their newborn and/or siblings. We believe if the government can spend money to encourage people to eat American beef, drive American cars, or use cotton products, they surely could spend some informational dollars to inform the parents of the 4 million babies who will be born this year, to “save the stem cells” and not allow them to be discarded after the birth of the baby. We believe that no
“mother-to-be” in the world would allow her baby's cord blood to be discarded
knowing that it could save a life, whether it be her own child, someone in the family, a
stranger in need of a transplant or used for research.
Unfortunately, not only the parents are unaware, so are many of the doctors. We are constantly striving to make the
medical caregivers aware. Recently we
launched our ‘Save The Stem Cells’ program at our booth during the American
College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists annual meeting.
Moreover, we were the sole sponsors and paid for a CD-ROM that went out to 40,000
ACOG members. Currently there are
approximately 15,500 doctors have supported their patients' decision to store with
CRYO-CELL." CEOCFOinterviews - Do you have any competition in cord blood stem cell storage? Mr. Richard: "Yes. There are number of private banks. However, the two basic criticisms of private banking have been a) the concerns of the utilization of the preserved cord blood for the benefit of the newborn. All expectant parents must be told that its a 1 in 4 chance (or better) to match a sibling. This is vital information since 59% of all pregnant women have one or more children in the family. This limited utilization concern is being dispelled every day with all the evolving medical technology, b) The high cost for cryopreservation has also been questioned since a number of private cell banks charge $1000 to $1500 or more for their service, plus higher annual fees. CRYO-CELL’s mission is to maintain affordability and make it available to the average person. Our fee is $275.00 and that includes the professional collection kit that the mother to be takes to the doctor to collect the cord blood, plus all the testing of the mother and the child, also the processing and preparation for long term storage and the first year storage fee as well. Thereafter, our storage fee is $50.00 a year and fixed in writing to remain the same for specimens already in storage. We are proud to say we have never raised the price for our basic service since the inception of our company nearly twelve years ago.” CEOCFOinterviews - Which market is your primary focus? Mr. Richard: "Our
primary focus is and will always be the preservation of the umbilical cord blood, as we
trade marked it, the U-Cord™ Preservation. However,
CCEL Bio-Therapies, our subsidiary mentioned earlier, which we own 80% of, is involved in
research to develop therapies. We do own the world rights, because we are co-inventors on
the patent application with them for the technology and therapies they believe can be
developed for treating neuro-degenerate diseases. CEOCFOinterviews - Do you invest any of the money you bring in into research and development? Mr. Richard: "We are primarily a marketing company, however we are developing new equipment all of the time. We have a patent on a new piece of equipment that will be able to store millions of specimen of DNA. We just recently got a patent approved on a remote, small portable holder. When you take a vial out of the long-term cryogenic unit, you are taking it into ambient temperatures. In our new remote holder you can put up to 12 vials with liquid nitrogen at the bottom and a micro processor that will print out the temperature for people to actually work with the vials after they were removed from the storage unit. We are continually developing things such as new types of vials and applying for patents. We have applied for a patent on our CRYO-CELL long-term storage unit in Europe, Ireland and Canada and other countries of the world. Thus, for a small company we have spent a lot of money on protecting our proprietary products." CEOCFOinterviews - Right now, a great deal of spending is focused on the marketing of your company, is it not? Mr. Richard: "Yes.
We had to do that. Wanda D. Dearth was added as the new President of the Company’s
management team. She brought in a number of
clinical educators to handle people interested in our service. Thousands of women call us every month and we
needed to be able to serve all of them. We
have bought new equipment and expanded our state-of-the-art laboratory in Clearwater
Florida. Dr. Geoffrey O’Neill, our lab
director, formerly with Sloan-Kettering and with Dr. Robert Good who did the first
successful bone marrow transplant in the world. We
continually enhance our Web site and Internet activities.
Our Information Technology Officers are preparing to make us into an e-commerce
company where people can enroll on our Web site. Right now they can download the
enrollment forms. We deal with nine thousand
Lamaze childbirth educators and, incidentally, we have exclusivity on their Lamaze ‘You
and Your Baby’ video which was distributed to 60,000 Wal-mart baby departments.
The childbirth educators use this video to train the expectant parents in their classes. We have initiated an “Open House”
program for both expectant parents and caregivers at our headquarters in Florida. We
have launched the ‘Save The Stem Cells’ program.
We are not only going to all the media, we are going to our own shareholders and
our own clients. We have a Mother-to-Mother
Network. We have enrolled over 200 women that
have stored their baby's cord blood with us or enrolled to store. They are now part of our
educational network to go to their own doctors and tell them to help save the stem cells
by just telling every patient about the affordable alternative that is available. A number of years ago, in February 1995, the National Cancer Institute said that the collection of cord blood from the newborn and its storage would soon become as routine as it was unusual, at that time. Along with CRYO-CELL’s management and dedicated staff, my mission in life is to help fulfill that prophecy." CEOCFOinterviews – What are your final thoughts to current shareholders and potential investors? Mr. Richard: "We encourage them to visit our Web site at www.cryo-cell.com. They will find that we are the fastest growing company in the country in our field and we are the largest exclusive autologous (self) storage company. We only store for the benefit of the baby and/or their siblings. We believe with all of the new programs we are implementing we can capture the dominant share of the private cord blood cryopreservation market. As for our stock,
we are currently a NASDAQ small cap company, which hopefully in the near future could
become eligible for national NASDAQ. We have
expanded into five countries in Europe. I hope that some of your readers would go to
www.cryoc.com to see the rapid expansion of our European license program. They recently announced that an agreement had been
signed with the Vatican-owned San Raphaelo Hospital in Milan, Italy to open a
state-of-the-art lab. We are growing
throughout the world. We have just signed a
license agreement in Mexico and the countries in Central America and are negotiating
licenses in South America and are awaiting a medical
team which is coming in from Asia for discussion. Moreover,
our growth is being accomplished without expending our own capital through our
international licensing program. Medical
caregivers and expectant parents are invited to visit us during our Open Houses at our
headquarters and state-of-the-art lab in Clearwater, Florida. |
