X-Message-Number: 9744
Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 16:41:21 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: CryoSpan, CryoCare, and "viability"

On Tue, 19 May 1998, Bob Ettinger wrote:

> At the moment there is (as far as I know) no clear indication that CryoSpan
> (CS) is viable, or that BioTransport (BT) will be. CryoCare (CC), the non-
> profit organization subcontracting storage to for-profit CS (and presumably

> soon to subcontract preparation services to for-profit BT) will have a problem
> if CS or BT folds or exits the field or is forced to raise prices
> significantly. 

Bob, I have suggested before that it would be polite and decent of you to 
check the accuracy of your aspersions before casting them.

CryoSpan's financials are not a secret. CryoCare's annual balance sheet 
was published within the past month.

At the beginning of this year, CryoCare was faced with Paul Wakfer's 
announcement that he planned to exit from his role as founder and CEO of 
CryoSpan, our storage provider. Within one day, I was able to establish 
contingency plans to protect and preserve our patients in the unlikely 
event that CryoSpan ceased to exist. The doubts that you are generating 
simply have no basis in reality.

> Does each trust for a CC member have enough reserve to move a
> patient to a different storage facility, if one can be found? 

The answer is "yes."

> Long distance
> transport in liquid nitrogen is expensive. Does it have enough to cover the
> probable hikes in charges by BT or possible hikes in rates by CS?

Obviously this depends on the amount by which rates went up. I might just 
as well ask if CI has enough (in the LONG term) to pay for liquid 
nitrogen if the cost of that goes up.

As I have pointed out here before, no organization, including CI, could 
survive if it were deprived of donated time and money and was forced to 
operate as a business. Your organization has its own vulnerabilities, so 
long as it depends on bequests and donations. Why do we need to go into 
these well-known facts?

--Charles Platt
CryoCare

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