The story of Cellaviva
The dream to help and inform families about stem cells
The story behind Cellaviva AB starts with Mathias Svahn, a doctoral student in gene therapy and expectant father. In 2006, Mathias was still a PhD student and was expecting his first child together with his wife.
Today, 2018, umbilical cord blood stem cells have been used to treat about 80 difficult diseases, such as leukemia and rare hereditary blood disorders. Around 50 000 patients receive a stem cell transplantation each year. And internationally, families have been offered the opportunity to save stem cells from newborns, for a long very time. But in 2006, it did not exist in Sweden, the only solution for Mathias was to collect and store stem cells by himself.
When he heard that one of his lab colleagues recently worked at a foreign stem cells clinic, he asked him to share the knowledge about how the collection and freezing should be done. Then he defied his fear of needles and brought the equipment to the maternity clinic. After the baby was born, Mathias hurried to the lab to prepare the blood for the next 8 hours while his wife and daughter took to a patient hotel.
“The purpose of saving stem cells is not the saving itself. But rather saving them to be able to use them in the future. And my hope has always been to participate in the process of developing new treatments.”
– Mathias Svahn
The incentive to inform other parents about the potential of stem cells from the placenta and the dream of helping them grew. In 2014 he founded Cellaviva, along with Edward Smith, Hans-Peter Ekre and Lena Degling Wikingsson with financial support from Diamyd Medical. With a mission to increase parents’ awareness about stem cells and the possibility to save them for the future.
Our mission
Our mission is to help parents to save and store the stem cells from the birth of their newborn baby. For the baby, the family and the potential future medical use.
Our vision
We want all expectant parents to be aware of that birth is an uniqe opportunity to save stem cells. The stem cells are collected after the baby has been born and the umbilical cord is cut, no intervention is needed, we simply take care of a waste product.
We believe that cell therapy will play an important role in the future healthcare and future medical treatments. We consider the access to your personal stem cells very valuable. In parallel to the establishment of the biobank for family savings of stem cells, we are also conducting stem cell research and developing stem cell therapies.
The dream, the vision and the mission became a reality
Today, Cellaviva is Scandinavia's largest private stem cell bank and we offer the following
Collection
& analysis of stem cells
When your child is born and the umbilical cord is cut, Cellaviva can help you to save the stem cells that remain in the cord tissue and cord blood. In the laboratory we carry out careful quality controls and analysis of the stem cells before the cells are frozen.
Safe storage
of stem cells for life
The stem cells are safely stored in liquid nitrogen in the family’s own box in the freezer, saved for your family and future. We are under the supervision of IVO, the Swedish Health and Social Care Inspectorate, and comply with the high standards for safe and safe handling and storage of stem cells.
Stem cells
for medical treatment
The purpose of saving the sample is to be able to use it for treatment purposes. Cellaviva submits the sample following a request from the mother under the condition that the medical treatment concerns the child or a relative.
