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Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin boss, yesterday added a new charitable venture to his empire - a private human stemcell bank with an altruistic twist that gives it the potential to save thousands of lives.
The bank will offer parents the chance to store the stemcell-rich umbilical cord blood of their newborn children, for treatment of diseases in the future, at the same time donating some of it to others for treatment now.
But the project is already mired in controversy because the main backer is Merlin Biosciences, a venture capital fund specialising in biotechnology, which will expect profits from its £10 million ($28.8 million) investment.
Sir Christopher Evans, founder of Merlin, with personal wealth estimated at over £100 million, is one of four men arrested in the cash for honours inquiry by the Serious Fraud Office. He has denied any wrongdoing.
The Virgin Health Bank will compete with several existing private cord blood banks and the national public cord bank. Critics of the private banks say the chances of any individual needing their own blood in the future is remote. The science of growing stemcells for conditions such as diabetes and Parkinson's disease has not yet developed. But donor cord blood is needed now to treat conditions such as leukaemia.
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