Capitalizing hope: the commercial development of umbilical cord blood stem cell banking

The creation of commercial cord blood banks rests on the promise of stem cell based regenerative medicine and marks the capitalization of human tissues within a future-oriented regime of hope. This paper will present data from a survey of the international cord blood banking industry and will explore: (a) the way firms seek to commercialize cord blood as a new set of commodities; (b) the expectations and moral economy that are being constructed around this technology; and (c) how firms are acting as mediators of hope in what might be called a promissory bioeconomy.