Questions - including the ones with uncomfortable answers

We arrange and carry out the transport of cryogenically preserved reproductive and cellular material between clinics, laboratories and storage facilities. That includes assessing whether a route can proceed, establishing the documentation it requires, coordinating with the laboratories at both ends, and accompanying the shipment to its destination.

We are a specialist medical courier. We do not provide treatment, storage or clinical advice.

Patients, fertility clinics, embryology laboratories, cryobanks and other healthcare organisations. An enquiry can come from any of them.

Whoever makes the enquiry, the material can only be released by the organisation holding it, and only where that organisation is satisfied it has the necessary authorisation to do so.

The company is newly established. We have chosen not to publish figures for years in service, numbers of transports completed or success rates, because we are not in a position to evidence them.

What we can describe is the process we operate and the records it produces. Clinics assessing us are welcome to ask for that detail directly.

No. We do not give clinical or medical advice, and we cannot comment on treatment decisions, on the suitability of material, or on its condition.

Those questions belong to your clinic. We will happily explain anything about the transport itself.

Cryopreserved embryos, sperm samples, oocytes and stem cells or other cryopreserved cellular material.

Each of these is assessed separately, because the requirements attached to them differ by material type as well as by route.

• Embryos, vitrified or slow-frozen
• Sperm samples, including donor material where the receiving organisation confirms it will accept it
• Oocytes
• Cryopreserved stem cells and cellular material, subject to the destination requirements

Often, yes, but this is agreed with the laboratories rather than assumed. Both the sending and receiving laboratories must be satisfied that the material can be released and received together, and the identifiers must be recorded separately.

Where material belongs to more than one patient, both clinics must confirm the arrangement in writing before it is scheduled.

No. Material stays in the straws, vials, canes, canisters or goblets applied by the sending laboratory, with that laboratory's own labelling.

Nothing is opened or repacked outside a laboratory environment.

Yes. We decline routes where the destination does not permit the movement, where the receiving organisation cannot evidence that it is able to accept the material, or where the journey cannot be planned within limits we consider acceptable for the material concerned.

We would rather decline at assessment than accept a case we cannot complete properly.

We supply our own prepared shippers. Each is prepared for the planned journey duration, with allowance for the route rather than for a best-case transit, and the configuration is agreed with the sending laboratory before collection.

The shipment is accompanied by a named courier, sealed before it leaves the sending laboratory, and checked against the documentation at each transfer of responsibility.

No, and we will not say otherwise. No transport provider can guarantee an outcome for biological material, and any assessment of its condition after arrival is a matter for the receiving laboratory.

What we can describe is the procedure we follow, the equipment preparation we agree with the laboratory, and the record we produce. Those are the things you can hold us to.

We do not currently publish any certification or accreditation claim. Where we hold none, we say so rather than implying otherwise.

If you require evidence of a specific standard before working with us, please ask at the enquiry stage and we will tell you plainly what our position is.

No. We are a transport provider, not a licensed clinical establishment, and we do not hold or claim approval from either body.

Licences and authorisations are held by the clinics and laboratories at each end of a route. Part of our assessment is confirming that each end holds what its own activity requires.

Yes. Our shippers have temperature monitoring capability, and a report can be produced after the transport is completed.

It is a record rather than a live feed: If your laboratory needs the report in a particular form, ask at the enquiry stage and we will confirm what we can provide before the case proceeds.

Yes. All shipments are insured.

The cover that applies to your case is set out in writing with the quotation, before you commit to anything. Please raise any specific insurance requirement at the enquiry stage so it can be confirmed then rather than afterwards.

Seal condition is checked and recorded at every transfer of responsibility, and again by the receiving laboratory before the shipper is opened.

If a seal is found to be disturbed, it is recorded and both clinics are informed immediately, before anything further is done with the shipment.

There are seven: initial enquiry, route and case assessment, documentation review, clinic coordination, courier and equipment preparation, accompanied transport, and destination handover and confirmation.

This is a proposed process and remains subject to operational confirmation. Each stage is described in full on our How it works page.

A named courier travels with the shipment for the whole journey and is the person who signs it over at the destination. The shipment is not handed to a party outside the agreed custody chain.

Where a route genuinely requires a second courier, the transfer between them is recorded as a formal handover in its own right.

It depends on the route, the availability of the two laboratories, the documentation position, and the connections available. We do not publish standard transit times, because a figure given before assessment would be a guess.

Once we have assessed your route, we will give you a realistic window. Border and authority processing times sit outside our control and are excluded from any estimate we give.

Sometimes. We can run assessment, documentation review and courier assignment in parallel rather than in sequence, which shortens our part of the process considerably.

What cannot be compressed is the part belonging to other organisations. The sending clinic still has to release the material, and the destination still has its own requirements. We will tell you at the enquiry stage whether your timescale is achievable.

Clients benefit from live temperature monitoring and real-time GPS tracking through our dedicated portal, offering full transparency and control over every stage of transport.

We do. We contact the sending and receiving laboratories directly and confirm what each requires of the other.

You will be kept informed, but you should not be asked to relay information between two laboratories. If that is happening, tell us and we will take it back.

We propose windows that fit around laboratory availability at both ends, and both laboratories confirm them before anything is booked.

Laboratory schedules lead. A collection window that the sending laboratory cannot staff is not a workable plan, however convenient it might be for the route.

A clinic may decline to accept material for its own reasons, and that decision is not one we can override.

This is one of the things we establish early, which is why we ask the receiving clinic to confirm acceptance in writing before a date is proposed.

Yes. The completed custody record is issued to both clinics after the handover. It covers collection, transfers, arrival and receipt, with times and signatures.

If your quality system requires a particular format, raise it at assessment so we can agree the recording arrangement in advance.

We coordinate routes involving the United Kingdom, Europe, North America, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Australia and New Zealand.

Coverage means we will assess a route, not that every route within a region is available. Each one is judged on its own facts.

Yes. Some countries restrict or prohibit the movement of reproductive material, and some restrict particular material types.

Where a route cannot proceed, we will tell you during assessment and explain why, rather than allowing a case to progress and fail later.

We identify what a route requires, assemble and check the documentation, and the courier attends border formalities with the case documentation.

We are not customs agents, and clearance decisions are made by the relevant authorities rather than by us. We cannot assure clearance on any route, and processing times are outside our control.

According to IATA, dry shippers with human cells are exempted from X-Ray screening.

Our shippers are also labelled with “Do Not X Ray” signs.

Couriers are provided with a letter stating Names and passport numbers, names of both sending and receiving clinics and airport security advised shipper are exempted from X-Ray screening.

It varies by route. A typical set includes the sending clinic's release documentation, your written consent or instruction, confirmation of acceptance from the receiving clinic, and, for cross-border movements, the export and import documentation those countries require.

We produce the specific list for your route at assessment and tell you who is responsible for each item.

• Release documentation from the sending clinic
• Written consent or instruction from the patient
• Written confirmation of acceptance from the receiving clinic
• Export and import documentation, for cross-border routes

No. We identify what is needed, chase outstanding items, and check the completed set for consistency before collection.

We cannot complete or sign consent and release forms on behalf of a patient or a clinic, and we do not certify documents.

No. Please do not send medical records, clinical history, identification documents or other highly sensitive material through our forms or by email.

We only need enough information to assess the route. If any additional information is genuinely required, we will tell you what it is and arrange a suitable way to provide it.

We raise it with the party who can correct it and hold the schedule until it is resolved.

A collection date is not confirmed while required items are outstanding. Finding a problem before collection is far better than finding it at a border.

We do not publish prices, because a meaningful figure depends on the route, the material, the documentation the route requires, the timing and the number of transfers involved.

A quotation is provided following case assessment. It will set out what is included and what is not.

The quotation states exactly what it covers for your case. Typically that includes coordination with both clinics, the documentation review, the courier and the shipper for the planned route, and the travel the route requires.

Anything not covered is listed separately, so that the position is clear before you commit.

There can be costs that are not ours to charge or to waive. Clinics commonly charge their own release or receipt fees, and some routes attract charges levied by authorities at the destination.

Where we are aware of such costs at assessment, we will identify them in the quotation so that you are not surprised by them later.

Payment arrangements are confirmed in writing with the quotation, before anything is booked.

Cancellation and refund terms are set out in the same written agreement and depend on the stage the case has reached. We do not publish a blanket refund policy here, because the terms that apply to your case belong in your case documentation.

As early as you can. Most of the elapsed time in a transfer is spent on documentation and on getting both clinics to confirm their position, not on the journey.

Enquiring early costs nothing and gives us time to identify problems while they are still easy to fix. Urgent cases are considered separately.

The names and locations of the two clinics, the material type and a rough idea of when you would like the move to happen. That is enough to begin an assessment.

You do not need documentation or exact dates at this stage, and you should not send medical records.

Your main task is completing the consent or instruction forms your clinic requires, and confirming that the details we hold about you are correct.

Your clinic prepares the material and completes its release documentation. We coordinate with both laboratories so that you are not managing the sequence yourself.

Yes, though a change has to be re-confirmed by both laboratories, and a documentation set with dates on it may need reissuing.

Tell us as soon as you know. A change handled early is straightforward; a change on the day usually is not.

Use the quotation form for a transport enquiry, or the contact form for anything else. Both go directly to the operations team.

As direct contact details are confirmed for publication, they will appear on our contact page. Until then the forms are the reliable route.

Not at present. We would rather say so than publish a number that may not be answered.

Office hours are Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM–6:00 PM UK time, and enquiries received outside them, including at weekends, are answered the next working day. If a case is already in progress, the arrangements for contacting the team about it are confirmed with you in writing beforehand.

You will receive an acknowledgement with a reference as soon as your enquiry is submitted. A substantive reply follows once someone has looked at the route.

If a matter is time-critical, say so in your enquiry and explain the deadline you are working to.

Use the contact form and select the complaint enquiry type, quoting your case or enquiry reference if you have one.

Our complaints procedure sets out how a concern is handled and what you can expect.