The story
2001–2007
CordLife pte ltd was incorporated on 2 May 2001, and subsequently received a licence to operate from the Ministry of Health of Singapore in either 2001 or 2002. In 2003, it merged with Cytomatrix LLC, and in June 2004, its holding company Cygenic Limited was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.In 2005, the company then entered the Hong Kong and PRC markets through Cordlife Hong Kong. In 2007, Cygenic Limited was renamed to Cordlife Limited("CBB") in June, while Cordlife Hong Kong achieved ISO:9001 in August. CyGenics Ltd also received the 'Technology Pioneer' award from the World Economic Forum in 2007.
2008–2011
In either 2007 or 2008, their Science Park II facility was launched. In September 2009, they released a cord blood unit for cerebral palsy, while on October 31, Cordlife Limited invested a 10% indirect equity stake in Guangzhou Tianhe Nuoya, a company engaged in providing cord blood banking services in Guangdong province. In 2010, The 10% indirect stake and Cordlife Hong Kong was transferred to the group. In March 2010, Cordlife also released a cord blood unit for treatment of neuroblastoma in Singapore.
On 30 June 2011, Cordlife demerged from Cordlife Limited and entered into Rights Of First Refusal (ROFR) agreement to acquire relevant businesses in Indonesia, the Philippines and India.
2012–2014
They became listed on Mainboard of SGX-ST on March 29, 2012
In May 2013, Cordlife moved to its fully owned, 23,000 square feet office and laboratory facility in A'Posh Bizhub, Yishun In October 2013, the Group's Indian subsidiary, Cordlife Sciences (India) Pvt. Ltd., introduced a metabolic screening service known as Metascreen.
2015–2023
In October 2015, they became the first company in Singapore to win Frost & Sullivan Singapore Stem Cell Company of the Year Award. Also in 2015, they were named by Forbes as one of Asia's 200 Best Under A Billion (2015)
In January 2016, Cordlife was accredited by FACT-NETCORD. In November 2016, Cordlife India and majority-owned Hong Kong Screening Centre received accreditation from the College of American Pathologists (CAP).
In 2019, Group CEO Michael Weiss resigned and was replaced by Tan Poh Lan.
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2023–Present
In November 2023, the Ministry of Health of Singapore revealed that Cordlife Group had exposed cryopreserved cord blood units at suboptimal temperatures, damaging the cord blood units belonging to at least 2,150 clients and rendering them unsuitable for stem cell transplant purposes.On 15 December, the company was issued a six-month suspension and had to cease collecting, testing, processing and/or storing any new cord blood and human tissues. The suspension was extended by an additional three months on June 15 for Cordlife to complete the validation of its new cord blood processing method.
In March 2024, the group's former CEO and four other board members were arrested and released on bail. In August 2024, Cordlife was permitted to resume services on a limited basis.
Their license was subsequently renewed for one year from 14 January 2025.On 29 September, the Ministry of Health informed Cordlife that their license would be suspended after the midpoint audit found that Cordlife failed to maintain its compliance with various regulatory requirements, including governance, incident reporting and management, as well as processes for collection, testing and processing of new CBUs, the suspension coming into effect from 26 November 2025. In October 2025, Cordlife’s executive chairman resigned less than five months into the position.
On 14 January 2026, Cordlife announced that their cord blood banking service licence was renewed for a year, while its human tissue banking service licence was renewed for two years.
From Wikipedia’s article on Cordlife, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4