VITA 34 Signs Cooperation Agreement with BKK Gruner + Jahr

VITA 34 International AG / Alliance

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Leipzig, February 06, 2008 – VITA 34 International AG (ISIN DE000A0BL849),
parent company of VITA 34, the leading umbilical cord blood bank in the
German-speaking part of Europe, has signed a cooperation agreement with BKK
Gruner + Jahr. BKK Gruner + Jahr is the fourth non-private health insurance
company to support VITA 34’s services.

As a result of the cooperation agreement, BKK Gruner + Jahr members benefit
from reduced fees for the storage of umbilical cord blood at the VITA 34
blood bank: at 1,790 Euros, the fee is 200 Euros lower than the standard
price. VITA 34 is convinced that this provides the more than 100,000 BKK
Gruner + Jahr members with an additional, attractive incentive to create a
health provision for their newborn children by storing stem cell
preparations generated from umbilical cord blood. VITA 34 considers the
cooperation with yet another non-private insurance company to be a clear
sign that stem cell preparations are becoming widely recognized as valuable
health assets. The same goes for private health insurance providers like
Debeka, with whom VITA 34 continues a successful cooperation.
         
Collaborations with multipliers and disseminators as well as cooperative
partnerships are a declared part of VITA 34’s market expansion strategy for
umbilical blood storage in Germany.

Umbilical cord blood can only be collected at birth. It contains a high
proportion of very young and therefore particularly developable stem cells,
and is capable of reproducing the hematopoietic and immune systems.

Stem cell therapies are currently used in the treatment of certain cancers,
following chemotherapy, or for patients with hematopoietic dysfunction.
Regenerative medicine, too, can gain high benefits from umbilical cord
blood, as the stem cells contained in this blood can be used to generate
arterial, nerve, and muscle cells. In addition, physicians are basing the
development of new efficient therapies for autoimmune diseases such as
juvenile diabetes mellitus on stem cells from umbilical cord blood.


Media / Investor Relation: 
Axel Mühlhaus/ Dr. Sönke Knop 
edicto GmbH 
Zeißelstraße 19 
D-60318 Frankfurt 
GERMANY
Tel.:+49 69 90550550 
Fax:+49 69 90550577 
E-mail: vita34@edicto.de


06.02.2008  Financial News transmitted by DGAP
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Language:     English
Issuer:       VITA 34 International AG
              Deutscher Platz 5a
              04103 Leipzig
              Deutschland
Phone:        +49(0341)48792-40
Fax:          +49(0341)48792-39
E-mail:       info@vita34.de
Internet:     www.vita34.de
ISIN:         DE000A0BL849
WKN:          A0BL84
Listed:       Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr
              in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, München, Stuttgart
 
End of News                                     DGAP News-Service
 
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