DURHAM – A Florida-based publicly-traded company that describes itself as the country’s “first private cord blood bank” may soon open a Durham facility.
The company, Cryo-Cell International, disclosed in its 2021 annual shareholder letter that it has entered into an agreement to acquire a 56,000 square foot facility in Durham.
According to the firm, which trades on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol CCEL, it has helped more than 500,000 parents from 87 countries across the globe “with their baby’s cord blood and cord tissue stem cells.”
Cryo-Cell International has a public banking program, according to the company’s statement, that it delivers in partnership with Duke University.
The shareholder letter, written by its co-CEO and chairman of the board of directors, David Portnoy, describes the company as undergoing a transformation”from a solid, cash generating cord blood bank to a fully integrated, cellular therapy company expecting to treat patients at its own clinic(s).”
Portnoy disclosed in the letter that the company had generated $7.9 million in cash flow from the company’s operations during its 2021 fiscal year.
Cryo-Cell reported it had incurred expenses that were related to a license agreement with Duke University in the letter, noting that revenues from the agreement had not yet begun, but were expected to do so in the fourth quarter of 2022.
“Utilizing proprietary expertise and manufacturing protocols from Duke, Cryo-Cell has developed its own mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) manufacturing operation in its laboratory in Tampa, Florida,” the letter reads. “MSCs have immunomodulatory properties that can potentially be used to treat neurological conditions and other maladies.”
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Deal for Durham space
According to the letter, the company entered into a non-binding letter of intent to buy a building in Durham. Though the letter indicates “there can be no assurances Cryo-Cell will be able to acquire this facility,” the company goes on to note that should the purchase be completed, the facility will serve three functions.
First, the facility would house cryogenic freezers and provide cold storage services to third-party clients.
Second, the facility could produce “cellular therapy products for Phase 3 clinical trials and commercialization, subject to FDA approval,” the company letter noted.
Third, it would provide long-term accommodations for the “needs of the Cryo-Cell Institute for Cellular Therapies,” the company letter said.
The license agreement began in February 2021, according to the company statement. The partnership “has allowed the Company to begin it[s] transformation into an autonomous, vertically integrated cellular therapy company,” the statement reads.
The company is already hiring for at least one position based in Durham, according to its careers webpage.
In September, the Dallas-based Life Science Storage, a provider of cold storage, announced it would expand to the Triangle.
