WideCells Group PLC (LON:WDC) has claimed a first in the UK by making its stem cell healthcare insurance, CellPlan, available to customers of Biovault, the country’s largest private human tissue storage facility.
João Andrade, WideCells chief executive, said: "With first sales expected imminently, this is a milestone for CellPlan and the Group as a whole.
“We are leveraging Biovault's register of over 25,000 samples to generate sales of our innovatively complete stem cell insurance product and are delighted that all new customers of the UK's leading cord blood storage facility will become customers of CellPlan.”
WATCH: Widecells' Joao Andrade 'very proud' to have Cellplan now available in the UK
Andrade added that with its e-commerce platform to go live in the next few weeks, CellPlan will start to generate revenues almost immediately.
CellPlan covers the cost up to €1mln of medical, travel and accommodation expenses incurred in treatment using stored stem cells.
Customers also have access to an expert second medical opinion and a global concierge service if treatment is carried out abroad.
Effective from today, every new Biovault customer will receive CellPlan for a 12 month period, the cost of which will be covered by Biovault as part of a package to new storage customers.
Historically there is a very high rate of clients who renew after the initial 12-month term Widecells added.
Biovault will also launch an education campaign storage offering and the CellPlan insurance product, which the Board believes will ensure strong uptake of CellPlan amongst existing Biovault clients.
CellPlan costs £170 each year on average and under the reseller model will generate an average of £50 balance net from each sale for WideCells.
Margin will be higher for sales generated from the Extended Provider Network as no commission payment is required.
Andrade added: "With first sales expected imminently, this is a milestone for CellPlan and the group as a whole.
“CellPlan is genuinely making stem cell treatment accessible and affordable to families that have gone through the expense of storing stem cells from umbilical cord blood and who most likely do not have the financial safety net to cover the costs to use their stem cells, therefore we believe that uptake will be equally strong amongst Biovault's existing client base and our Extended Provider Network.
"Crucially, we expect our agreement with Biovault will provide a framework for future agreements that are in our pipeline.
“In line with this, we are pleased to report that we are already experiencing demand from other members of our Excel Membership Programme for our insurance product and accordingly believe we are poised to generate additional recurring revenues from CellPlan in the near future.“