Around 10,000 mothers in Romania out of 200,000 choose to harvest stem cells at birth annually, claims the president of the Romanian Association of Accredited Stem Cell Banks (ARBACS), Bogdan Ivănescu. As an entrepreneur, he believes that 5-6 banks will remain on the Romanian stem cell market, out of 17 currently. "It is a matter of common sense and elementary logic as long as there are 4 banks in a market of 80 million people, and 17 banks in a market of 20 million to think that their number will decrease," the head of ARBACS explained to journalists from agerpres.ro.
How long have you been active in medicine and when did the field of stem cells enter your area of interest?
At the age of 5, it was the first time I firmly stated that I wanted to become a doctor, and that's when I received a plastic kit of medical instruments from my parents to bring to kindergarten. After that, it seems that I remained steadfast in this idea and at the beginning of 2000, in 2003 if I'm not mistaken, I graduated from the Faculty of Medicine and started on this medical path. As for this field of stem cell harvesting, I've been working in it since 2009.
To what extent is there interest in Romania for the services offered by stem cell banks? How many future parents use these services annually?
We are delighted with the Romanian patient. The Romanian Association of Accredited Stem Cell Banks, which probably represents three quarters, 75% of the market in this field, has a very good experience from this perspective, namely about 5% of expectant mothers choose to harvest stem cells at birth. If we look a little at the European average, which is between 1.5 and 2.5% and compare it with this 5%, even 6%, not to mention the 8% we knew in 2009, we can say that this medical procedure is well known in Romania and the Romanian public, expectant mothers, have embraced this idea strongly in the sense that out of 200,000 annual births, let's say a somewhat round figure, almost 10,000 mothers harvest stem cells at birth in Romania.