CORDLIFE GROUP LIMITED REQUIRED TO STOP COLLECTING, TESTING, PROCESSING, AND STORING NEW CORD BLOOD

The Ministry of Health (MOH) has issued a Notice of Regulatory Action to Cordlife Group Limited (Cordlife) to stop Cordlife from collecting, testing, processing and/or storing new cord blood with effect from 26 November 2025.

2          Cordlife is therefore suspended from collecting new cord blood units (CBUs), and will only be permitted to maintain the storage of existing CBUs and perform limited actions in relation to such existing CBUs. These limited actions include facilitating the transfer of these existing CBUs to other cord blood banks, and disposal of such existing CBUs in accordance with Cordlife’s clients’ instructions.

3          This regulatory action follows MOH’s issuance of a Notice of Intent to Cordlife on 29 September 2025 on the intended suspension of its licence and Cordlife’s subsequent submission of written representations to MOH.

4          After careful consideration of Cordlife’s representations responding to the Notice of Intent, MOH has assessed that Cordlife had not adequately addressed the concerns raised during MOH’s mid-point audit in July 2025 to continue providing its cord blood banking service in a safe, clinically and ethically appropriate manner, and would require time to satisfactorily address the outstanding issues.

5          To help ensure that Cordlife continues to meet its obligations under the Healthcare Services Act (HCSA) and better ensure the continuity and safety of CBUs already stored with Cordlife by existing clients, MOH has decided to proceed with the regulatory action to impose additional licence conditions on Cordlife, which in effect suspends it from collecting, testing, processing and/or storing new cord blood. These conditions will remain in force even if Cordlife’s licence is renewed for one year in January 2026, and until Cordlife demonstrates the ability to consistently meet the regulatory requirements for cord blood banking services. MOH also maintains the earlier directions to Cordlife, including to replace its current Clinical Governance Officer and review all laboratory records of the approximately 160 CBUs collected since January 2025.

6          MOH will continue to closely supervise Cordlife’s rectification of its various lapses, and will not hesitate to take further regulatory action should further non-compliances be found.