Stem cell harvesting company launches insurance package; local market, one of the most important in Europe

Stem Sure, Danish stem cell harvesting company, has launched “Stem Insurance – The insurance for medical interventions with stem cells” in premiere for Romania, together with BCR Asigurari insurance company. The Romanian market is one of the most promising in Europe on what concerns cell harvesting said Stem Sure representatives, since in eight percent of births, parents opt for this service, compared to the European average of 2.5 percent. BCR Asigurari intends to sell 5,000 such policies this year.

The reasons why the average rate of stem cell harvesting services in Romania is so high was explained by Dr. Bogdan Ivanescu, Stem Sure Solutions President, who said that Romanians, due to their Latin origins, are more “caring” (similarly, another country of Latin origins, Portugal, has 15 percent rate of total births from which stem cells are harvested; however, Portugal was the first country in Europe to adopt this service, as was stated during the conference). Moreover, as Dr. Ivanescu added, Romanians are very prone to adopting international trends.

The cost of the policy is of EUR 204 per year and it covers treatments of EUR 100,000, which covers services for four people – the child, his/her parents and a sibling. The EUR 100,000 sum has been chosen, since the cost of stem cell surgery is usually in the EUR 50,000 – EUR 100,000 range (most often used in leukemia situations). It also includes access to the acquisition of additional samples from other stem cell bank in the world The services provided by the policy come into force from the first day after the contract is signed for the main holder (the newborn) and six month later for the other members of the family. Additional compatible members of the family may be added to the policy for the cost of EUR 18 per family member. The insurance may be finalized for twenty years, but it may be renewed afterwards.

In Romania, stem cell transplant with cells harvested from the umbilical cord is not yet possible (it is not yet known when they will be) and the services included in the insurance system are available at any clinic throughout the worlds. Currently, in Bucharest’s Fundeni hospital, an approximate 300 cases of stem cell transplants were done so far, since 2001, but only with mature cells, harvested from the bone marrow.

BCR Asigurari officials stated that they opted to partner with Stem Sure for this service, because it is an innovative one. Another recent health-related service was issued by them recently, which represented the company’s return to health insurance services, in which they had not got involved since 2005.

“The treatment with stem cells and the “Stem Insurance” service represent an important step for the Romanian society and for the health system in our country. Although for Romania it is a premiere, this product represents a necessary step for a civilized, modern society,” stated Mihail Tecau, BCR Asigurari VIG directorate president.

The Danish company Stem Sure has recorded a number of 350 harvests in Q4 last year on the local market, which can be translated into a turnover of EUR 350,000 for that given period, which makes the company rank second on the market. Throughout 2010, however, the total turnover registered by the company reached slightly over 1 million. In 2011, Stem Sure aims to reach 50 percent over last year’s turnover, reaching EUR 1,500,000. Stem Sure was authorized in Romania in 2009. The market reached a value of EUR 18 million in 2010. A 10 percent increase is expected this year, correlated with an anticipated decrease in the birth rate. Arpund 220,000 births were registered in Romania last year.