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it is @kathrynanja

Haha you're doing your research! Yes, in that sense we are reliable for the reasons I mentioned. There is personalization according to different birth plans. At its core, cryopreservation is the same, but we cater to different scenarios whether its a doula, midwife, nurse etc. being involved and whether they bank cord blood, cord tissue, placenta. Whether they do a home v hospital birth. Whether they want to do delayed cord clamping or not. Whether they are encapsulating their placenta or want to bank. Whether they are doing a lotus birth or not.

Right - so in total for 20 years of storage for instance, (100-300)20 + (500-2500 down payment) comes out to more than our current prices which are (35-85) 8 for 20 years of storage as payments go over the course of 8 years to cover 20 years of storage.

I can guarantee we are the most affordable in the industry at this moment.

Re supportive. Not necessarily. Time and time again I hear stories along the lines of "I had to hand over my credit card in the middle of labor because I couldn't pay online and didn't know when I should pay" or "their supposed sales reps didn't have a lot of knowledge when I asked them questions specific to my birth plan."

Relevant to people of color because people like me - who are mixed race - will have a harder time finding a donor if they ever need stem cells. So banking their own ensures access

Soon!! :D Find me on bookface & email me?

Parents sign an agreement with us that it's their property! You could, but it would be costly. There's not really ever a reason to. May as well have it stay put. Cryopreservation is cryopreservation.

Why do you think they'd have less access? They have greater access because they will 100% find a donor - themselves. It guarantees access to a sample regardless of genetic background

For sure. We're 8 years * 85/mo for payments * 12 months per year for 20 years of storage. So much less than 18k

Recently spoke with a OB who said that he didn't like to mention it in the past because he felt slimy knowing that companies were hiking up their prices (since demand can be inelastic for baby health related products). He recently signed with us as an advisor because he knew we were well-intentioned and properly building an onboarding flow & company made for parents and for them only.

No evidence to show that extensive storage will damage the product! Potentially re: transfer, although it would depend on who is transferring & how

Yup! Lower income families like us because we are accessible. Higher income families & providers as well like us because of our personalization and onboarding

Those types of stem cells can be extremely unstable and carcinogenic even, so yes, the ones that we collect are specialized specifically for either blood or tissue regeneration which is why they are more stable and not inclined to be carcinogenic.

They will be usable - no other research to demonstrate otherwise right now :) For sure - doctors are skeptical, but we've been able to reach OBs and convince them otherwise. Time will tell!

Distribution is distribution :)

Amazing! So glad you did

Thank you so much! Your support means the world :)

It's an investment with tremendous return - I personally know the return first hand. If my brother had access to these stem cells, his motor skills could've been improved, which could've led him to more easily be able to do things like cough when he had pneumonia (which ultimately led to the downfall of his health). Reprogramming into other cells can create an extremely unstable cell and a carcinogenic environment

Survival rates from stem cell treatments are also much higher if the stem cells come from a genetically related sample - the best is your own. Beyond that, many may not find a match if you're a person of color or mixed race. This is also a pain point my family personally faced

For the most part, it is disposed of unfortunately :( there's super limited awareness on cord blood banking in the US

Ah I see - we'd love to help out next time!

Hi! How long are you paying that? Is it for life?

Our's is $35, 65, or 85/mo for 8 years to cover 20 years of storage. So it's nowhere near 18k

We are LESS expensive than current other options - I believe the other options mentioned are price points offered many years ago haha. We are $35/mo for 8 years to cover 20 years of storage. That is our cheapest - check our a price breakdown at anjahealth.com/shop/#pricing

As a brand, it helps because people of color can be most affected by being unable to find a stem cell match. And people of color - on average - have lower income in the US, so having lower prices makes us more accessible.

Personalization happens technically with manual processing. It also happens emotionally because we cater to every single customer to make sure that they feel supported regardless of what their birth plan/unforeseen circumstances are

It's not marketed as "reliable" moreso "accessible." haha although I would say that we are reliable as well. If anything ever happens, we have a legal obligation to shift CRM. It's as if a storage unit were to shut down and had other people's items in it. We have a legal responsibility to make sure that it's managed safely and accordingly

I'm glad!

1. They don't expire - there is not any evidence of detrimental deterioration 2. No - it's a different type of stem cell. The stem cells from cord blood are much more stable. Others have a risk of being carcinogenic even! ie embryonic stem cells

Standards for donations meaning volume, certain history of disease, etc.

Congrats!! Donating can definitely be positive, but I think in a perfect world everyone has access to their own stem cells. Chances of survival are higher if you use a genetically related donor for a stem cell treatment. Beyond that, I'm a firm believer in the fact that if someone has access to these stem cells, they will use it at some point in life. Even if someone spends their whole life being healthy, they could be used for dementia/whatever old age brings. In the US, this is not quite as popular, but in other countries, people use stem cells in the same way they use botox - for anti-aging purposes. It could potentially be used for that down the line too.

Plus, standards for donations are very high. Some donations are rejected, so if you try to donate and it's rejected, then nobody wins :(

As for the fear mongering-related marketing, we do our very best to stay away from that, but truthfully it's a necessary thought when it comes to positioning a preventative care product.

We process them all separately! We do this for twins as well.

We have an open source cord blood banking library if you'd like to take a look (https://anjahealth.notion.site/Cord-Blood-Banking-Library-60...) Highlights include real cases of cord blood being used to reverse type 1 diabetes (https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/240160#1), significantly improve symptoms of Chron's (https://www.dvcstem.com/post/stem-cell-crohns-case-study), promote CAR-T cell therapy (https://www.cancertherapyadvisor.com/home/cancer-topics/hema...), treating neuroblastoma on a 7-year-old (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1357627/), and more!

Most notably, I like to point out that banking over donating is what we advocate for because using a donor's hematopoietic stem cells risks rejection and even fatality, so using a genetically related (or your own) stem cells increases your chances of survival (https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejm199708073370602)

As a startup, we have a legal obligation to ensure that the CRM is handed off in case anything happens to the company. Our lab has been around for over 40 years processing different kinds of blood products, so they are definitely not going anywhere (and the blood products our clients stored wouldn't either), and they would simply communicate with a new CRM.

The multiple packets on deposit is actually a marketing tactic haha. There's a lot of chatter about using 2 vs. 5 compartments (our lab uses 5), but in reality, they are 2 large compartments or 5 small ones and people will generally use as many stem cells as they can if an emergency health situation comes about.

We're different because 1. pricing - we offer monthly payments (we have offered annual upon request). When you add up all banks' costs to cover 20 years, we are the cheapest option. 2. We process stem cells manually (by hand), which can yield up to 25% more stem cells than if they are processed with a machine/automatically. Our brand is built around evidence-based personalization. 3. We offer placenta banking, which requires a more advanced lab that we have access to. 4. We have a brand and community behind us. Many parents tell us that they choose us over other banks because we have such personal customer service where everyone feels educated walking into the process of banking and they feel comfort walking out of the process of banking.

Donations are pretty heavily concentrated in New York City and they have a hard time collecting from other areas.

As for cord blood banking, anyone who can get a kit (which should be everyone because we ship nationally) should be able to bank, but in the rare cases that doctors push back, you can request that they put in your medical record that they are refusing, and usually they will reconsider because - inversely -they don't want to take on the liability of not banking haha

For sure! So glad you will!