Beike Biotechnology is a leading biotechnology company whose scientists have been dedicated to the development and commercialization of adult stem cell therapies since 1999. The company currently produces a full line of stem cell products derived from umbilical cord, cord blood, and bone marrow stem cells. Beike's proprietary processing and quality assurance technologies prepare the cells for use in treating a variety of serious medical conditions including ataxia, brain injury, cerebral palsy, diabetic foot disease, lower limb ischemia, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, spinal cord injury, and optic nerve damage.
Watch the video introduction to the Shenzhen Beike Biotechnology Company.
Beike's stem cells are derived from healthy donors who are carefully screened for transmissible diseases. The samples are additionally screened by government appointed blood banks and Beike’s specialized laboratories. The stem cells are then banked in state-of-the-art facilities and only utilized in partnership with the best hospitals and physicians.
Stringent quality control procedures are undertaken at each of Beike‘s eighteen laboratories. Some of the laboratories are located inside the research departments of hospitals while others are located directly inside government blood banks. Beike also has two large stand alone laboratories where both research and stem cell processing take place. Beike, in partnership with the regional government, maintains a bank for the storage of stem cells located in the China Medical City in the Jiangsu province. This storage facility is capable of storing cord blood, cord mesenchymal, and iPS cells. All of the laboratories are outfitted with modern equipment and have been fully certified by the relevant drug authorities.
Treatment protocols include injections of umbilical cord blood stem cells, cord mesenchymal stem cells, and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells directly into the spinal cord fluid and intravenously. However, for ailments like spinal cord injuries, liver disease, heart disease, muscular dystrophy, and lower limb ischemia, the stem cells are delivered through injections directly into the damaged tissue as well as through standard methods. For many diseases, protocols include rehabilitation and physical therapy.
Stem cells work by providing the body with paracrine and cytokines as well as a variety of other cell factors. These help to encourage the following functions:
1. Immune system regulation
2. Reducing cell death
3. Stimulation of growth of the patient’s own stem cells
4. Neo-angiogenesis (the growth of blood vessels resulting in increased blood flow to damaged areas)
5. Scar tissue reduction
6. Improving the effective conduction of intercellular electrical signals and transduction
Our research for future treatments is focused mainly on iPS technology in partnership with various leading scientific groups including Tsinghua Unversity. Beike’s scientists and partners have authored nearly eighty publications in Chinese scientific journals as well as ongoing clinical studies since our first ALS trial program in 2001. We very much welcome cooperation with international partners to help verify the effectiveness of our treatments and protocols and to license other technologies for use throughout our network of twenty seven hospitals。
The company was founded with capital from Beijing University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Shenzhen City Hall. The formation of the company was also supported with grants from the China State National Fund. Since that time, additional capital has been provided by a variety of Chinese venture capital firms.In total, Beike has received over US$6 million in Chinese government grants including a grant for a joint laboratory in Shenzhen with Tsingua University to focus on the study of stem cell reprogramming.
Beike‘s head office is located in Shenzhen but the company also has offices in Beijing, Nanjing, Taizhou, and Qingdao.
Stem Cell Processing Information
In January 2010, both Beike Biotechnology Stem Cell Preparation Laboratory and Beike's Jiangsu Stem Cell Bank received ISO9001 Quality Management System Authentication from the China Quality Center (CQC). The stem cell bank was the first comprehensive storage facility to receive this authentication in China.
Umbilical Cord Blood (UCB) Stem Cells
For most ailments such as CP, ataxia, ALS, autism, and optic nerve hypoplasia, Beike's protocols utilize UCB stem cells. Our UCB stem cell doses consist of three subsets of stem cells. These are hematopoietic stem cells, endothelial progenitor cells, and mesenchymal stem cells. As has been shown in numerous studies, hematopoietic stem cells and endothelial progenitor stem cells are likely to form tissues in the body. Mesenchymal stem cells can assist in the growth of chondrocytes (a type of cell critical to tissue renewal, particularly cartilage), liver cells, kidney cells, and neurons, and also conduct repairs in relation to vascular disorders within the brain, ocular areas, and throughout the body including the heart, kidney, and pancreas.
Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal (UC-MSC) Stem Cells
Some of Beike's protocols, include the use of UC-MSC stem cells. These injections contain a higher percentage of mesenchymal stem cells than the UCB injections and closely resemble the makeup of the injections cultured from patients’ own bone marrow.
Bone Marrow (BM) Stem Cells
Beike also has protocols utilizing patients' own bone marrow stem cells for ailments like spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, diabetic foot, femur head necrosis, liver disease, and heart diseases. These stem cells are made up almost entirely of mesenchymal stem cells.
Key Personnel
CEO and Chairman - Dr. Sean Hu
Dr. Sean Hu, Ph.D; Director of Shenzhen R&D Center of Stemcell Engineering and Technology, Director of Beike Stemcell Research Institute of China Medical City, Director of Shenzhen Beike Cell Engineering Research Institute.
Dr. Sean Hu received his Ph.D from the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Gothenburg University in Sweden in 1998. After spending several years in Sweden he moved to Canada to do his post-doctoral research in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of British Columbia. In 2001, he moved back to China, where continuous breakthroughs in the stem cell research field inspired him to support various stem cell research institutions in China. Since then, he has continued to focus his passion and energy towards the progress of stem cell research.
In June 2005, Dr. Sean Hu founded Shenzhen Beike Cell Engineering Research Institute, whose primary mission is to act as a platform for the advanced research of stem cell technology. In 2008, Dr. Sean Hu was listed in the National Annual "Thousand-Person Program" by the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee for his outstanding achievements in the field of stem cell research.
CSO - Dr. Susan Jiang
Dr. Susan Jiang began her career path as a physician in the field of otorhinolaryngology, specializing in head and neck (ENT-HN) surgery. After receiving her Ph.D. in China, she completed post-doctoral work in the Department of Physiology Biophysics at the University of Arkansas in 2002. In 2005, Dr. Jiang moved to the Pediatrics Department of Stanford University where she investigated the therapeutic potential of stem cells in neo-natal respiratory diseases and developed wound healing models based on stem cell technologies. After nearly three years at Stanford, she became Scientific Director at Escape Therapeutics in the U.S., managing their science team as they developed products based on genetically engineered human stem cells and beta cells for diabetic-related disorders. Dr. Jiang joined Beike as CSO in 2009.
iPS Research Director - Dr. Li Tao
Dr. Tao comes to Beike with over 20 years of research experience in genetics, epigenetics, cell and stem cell biology, molecular biology, cancer biology, and protein chemistry. He was most recently a senior research scientist at Stanford University's School of Medicine. During his six years at Stanford, he authored or co-authored 22 papers in peer-reviewed journals including Science, Human Molecular Genetics, Cancer Research, and Genomics. Before Stanford, he earned his Ph.D. at Tokyo University and spent nine years in Japan working on genetics and genetic engineering, publishing articles in 16 international, peer-reviewed, journals.
