Stem cell technology company WideCells has been admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s main market.
The firm made its stock market debut on Wednesday, raising £2 million in the process to fund its healthcare insurance venture,
Proactive Investors reported.
WideCells is focused on collecting and storing stem cells and providing insurance for stem cell treatment, according to a report by
Alliance News.
“We are the first company ever to create an integrated service offering to combat the financial barriers associated with stem cell treatment, which has enabled us to attract a fantastic board with direct experience of commercialising innovative areas of the medical industry,”
Alliance News quoted WideCells CEO Joao Andrade as saying.
Andrade said the company’s CellPlan healthcare insurance product is the first of its kind to be launched worldwide.
“It will make treatment more accessible to those outside of the richest demographics and which we believe will in turn fuel investment into stem cell research, potentially driving one of the next important phases in the medical industry," Andrade said.
CellPlan costs around £150 a year and provides US$1 million of cover, according to the
Proactive Investors report.
The cover includes travel and accommodation to specialist treatment centres around the world.
“We are resolving a major problem in the stem cell industry, in particular for a segment called the core blood banking industry,” Andrade told
Proactive Investors.
“People pay £2,000 to store stem cells to protect the family against future illness. What they don’t realise is just how much it costs to have the treatment. It’s something they simply can’t afford.”
Andrade continued: “Nobody is providing an insurance or medical opinion service.”
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