Today Biohellenika is the first choice for parents in Greece because:

It is an SA company with the majority of its shareholders and scientific managers being well-known Academic laboratory doctors.

Biohellenika operates under the principles of laboratory medical practice with dedicated and higher educated employs. The company is certified by ISO 9001:2000 and is inspected twice a year by Lloyd’s Register of London.

The laboratories were recently accredited by the Hellenic Accreditation System (ΕΣΥD) with No 410 8/2/2008, an accreditation certificate according to ISO 15189:2007, as a medical laboratory, for its quality controls.

A close protocol is applied for the procedure, according to which, most of the erythrocytes are removed and all the nucleated and leukocytes are collected. The cell recovery after cell processing is 98,2%.

Biohellenika gives great importance to the total Red Blood Cells (RBCs) removal, because it offers many advantages to the family. The sample can be used by family members with different blood type (ABO) and because the small final cryopreservation volume the side effects of DMSO (as cryoprotectant) after cells infusion are very limited.

During this procedure the transplant does not come in contact at all with the environment.

The protocol followed by Biohellenika for the separation of the stem cells, was recently published by the scientific team in the Journal Cytotherapy (2007) Vol 9, N.7, 654-659. The Journal is published by the International Society for Cellular Therapy and is the Society's official tool. Stem cell cryopreservation banks from abroad and individual scientists showed a special interest in the high percentage of viability and cell recovery, after the separation procedure that is followed by this protocol.

The samples have one unique code number by which they are identified. Every sample of stem cells is divided in two parts. One part is cryo-preserved in the laboratories in Thessaloniki and the other part in the laboratories in Athens, which are housed at the Stem Cells Bank of the National Hellenic Research Foundation (TAK-EIE) for the greater safety and faster delivery in case the sample is required for use.

The sterile positive pressure rooms and the most modern laminar flow cabinets that operate inside of them, are inspected daily with particle and microbial counters.

A full quality check with modern flow cytometry (Beckman Coulter and Becton Dickinson) is applied, according to internationally approved clinical protocols, the most sensitive blood culture bacteriological test system (Bactec and BioMerieux), check for haematopoietic colony forming unit tests, and viral tests with the most modern RT-PCR system (Rotor gene 6000). RT-PCR method requires only one test at the day of delivery and not repeated tests after six months, for the fear of later virus antibody detection. PCR method detects virus genome at the time of contamination.

The cryopreserved samples are considered the property of the child and fall under the laws of property protection.

Biohellenika, one of the lead companies in Greece in the field of biotechnology supports your family from the moment of the birth of your child. With dedication and using the highest technology, it ensures your child’s stem cell preservation and at the same time, provides it with a lifetime health service. One of these is that Biohellenika covers autologous umbilical cord blood stem cells transplantation expenses for the first 20 years from the day of preservation and up to the total amount of 50,000€. All the expenses will be proven by the appropriate papers. It concerns umbilical cord blood stem cell transplantation as a therapeutic treatment of malignant diseases and covers hospitalization in Greece and abroad. The program covers the case of autologous transplantation and provides the following services: coverage of hospitalization fees, medicines, examinations and medical actions in Greece or abroad. Secure transportation of the family and the stem cells inside a special container, to the site of transplantation abroad.

Biohellenika’s private agreement was developed to reassure you and your child and was completed in collaboration with the thousands of parents they were trusted Biohellenika for their children’s’ stem cells cryopreservation. For this reason the company does not request a signature or a deposit payment before the whole procedure is completed with the issue of the medical quality report. The company issues a medical quality report with the unique code number and the cryopreservation locations of the samples for each child. Our company does not identify the transplants with histocompatibility types. If and when this is required by the parents, the identification can be done from blood samples taken from the child and receiver.