How Are All The Cord Blood Banks Different?

Anja Health is the first POC, womxn-owned cord blood bank. Our founder, Kathryn Cross, founded Anja Health because of her younger brother, Andrew, who she named the company after. Andrew had cerebral palsy and could have benefitted from cord blood stem cells, but unfortunately, her family couldn't find a match. Nevertheless, because of Andrew, Kathryn makes sure that Anja parents are the priority: Anja pushes to be the most informative, accessible, and easy-to-use cord blood bank in the industry. There are a few ways in which cord blood banks claim to differentiate:

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Price.

To ensure accessibility, we provide flexible monthly payment plans, starting at $49/month. The exact cost depends on whether you choose to store cord blood, cord tissue, and/or the placenta, and whether you prefer to pay monthly, upfront, or with a 20% down payment. We also offer lifetime storage plans, as well as 20-year storage options to make our services more affordable.

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Placenta banking.

• ‍Very few banks offer placenta banking as it requires a more advanced lab. Anja Health's lab is fortunate enough to have the resources to offer placenta banking.

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User experience.

• ‍Anja Health prioritizes client experiences and guarantees a response within 10 minutes or less if during business hours. If you’re already an Anja client, we offer 24-hour support. Hear more about what our clients have to say here or checkout our social media community of 200k+ at TikTok, including lab tours, conversations with OB/GYNs, and more.

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Stem cell count.

• Stem cell yields are completely dependent on individual factors (i.e. if an umbilical cord is especially long, if a placenta is especially large, if the mother decides to delay cord clamping, etc.), so average stem cell yield does not reflect a lab's performance. It merely reflects average client birth plans and body types. Similar to compartment size, stem cell count statistics are merely a marketing tactic.

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Processing.

• ‍Cord blood banks either process stem cells manually or automatically. This means that they either process it by hand in a lab or with automated machines in a lab. Processing manually results in almost 25% more stem cells being recovered and up to 80% less red blood cells contaminating the sample, so Anja Health processes manually.

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The number of compartments that are used to store the cord blood.

• Some banks claim that they are superior to others for using 2 vs. 5 compartments to store cord blood. However, in reality, banks are simply comparing 2 large compartments to 5 small compartments, ultimately storing the same volume of cord blood and making this a moot point. Anja Health's lab uses 5, but a claim that this is superior would simply be a marketing tactic.