FLORIDA BUSINESS
Published Thursday, December 16, 1999, in the Miami Herald
CRYO-CELL gets option to buy Cancer Group
MICHELE CHANDLER
mchandler@herald.com
A Clearwater cell-storage company specializing in preserving newborn babies' umbilical-cord blood has obtained an option to buy The Cancer Group Institute of North Miami Beach.
The Cancer Group received options to purchase 10,000 shares of Cryo-Cell International stock in exchange for Cryo-Cell's option to acquire the company. Should Cryo-Cell decide to exercise its option, the purchase price would be between $1 million to $2 million, depending on the date the ownership change takes place.
In addition, Cryo-Cell has committed $100,000 to expand the Cancer Group's operations.
Since the summer, the two companies have jointly run a program to encourage oncologists to assist their pregnant patients with a family history of cancer to store their newborn baby's umbilical-cord blood for future use in family members who may develop the disease.
``We believe the association with the Cancer Group will demonstrate to insurance companies the actuarial value of coverage,' said Daniel Richard, Cryo-Cell's chairman and chief executive.
While not a widely accepted procedure, there have been more than 1,000 umbilical-cord-blood stem cell transplants. An increasing number of insurance companies are now covering cryopreservation of newborn's stem cells when there has been a diagnosis or family history of cancer.
In July, Cryo-Cell signed a 20-year exclusive agreement with the privately held Cancer Group Institute. The 5-year-old Cancer Group operates Web sites with information for physicians about cancer treatments (www.cancergroup.com) as well as consumers wanting information about the disease.
Started by photographer Michael Braham, along with an oncologist associate, The Cancer Group began as sort of a Cliffs Notes of cancer care, providing technical information on cancer and treatments for the disease to physicians. Doctors wanted to pass along the information to their patients, but said the material was so technical it would be beyond the average patient's grasp.
So The Cancer Group began offering information in lay terms, available on www.cancerpatients club.com, www.cancersurvivors
club.com and www.cancerfamiliesclub.com
Its Web sites receive about 25,000 inquiries daily from oncologists, radiologists and cancer patients. The Cancer Group also has served many medical teaching hospitals.
The Cancer Group is steadily getting more inquiries from patients, teaching hospitals and physicians from all over the world, Braham said.
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