Recently, the Guangdong Department of Science and Technology released the review results of the third round of project plans under the 2020 Guangdong Special Strategic Fund for Science and Technology Innovation (Guangdong Emergency Special Project on Scientific and Technological Tackling for the Prevention and Control of Novel Coronavirus Infection); the three batches of projects have together received over RMB 33 million in provincial financial funding. Among them, the project "Clinical Research on Treating Severe Pneumonia Caused by Coronavirus with Human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells", jointly applied for by Beike Biotech and the Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen (Shenzhen's only designated hospital for receiving COVID-19 patients), received approval under the Guangdong Department of Science and Technology's 2020 Guangdong Emergency Special Project on Scientific and Technological Tackling for the Prevention and Control of Novel Coronavirus.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on public health and the economy. As cells with the capacity for self-renewal and differentiation, stem cells have, since the outbreak began, been the focus of high hopes for repairing lung injury in COVID-19 patients. On 2 March, when General Secretary Xi Jinping inspected scientific research at the front line and listened to a briefing on the overall situation of scientific and technological tackling for COVID-19 prevention and control, he stressed: "To raise the cure rate, reduce the death rate and ultimately defeat the pandemic, the key lies in science and technology", and specifically mentioned stem cells. On 17 March, at a State Council Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism press conference, Zhang Xinmin, Director of the Bio-Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology, said: "Stem cells can quickly relieve or stop the worsening of breathing difficulty in severe and critical patients. In addition, stem cells block the progression of pulmonary fibrosis and promote repair of lung injury, showing unique advantages in preventing pulmonary fibrosis and improving long-term prognosis in patients."
The project applied for in this round used human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells to treat severe pneumonia patients caused by coronavirus. The project employed a randomized parallel-controlled design to evaluate the safety and efficacy of mesenchymal stem cell therapy for severe pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus; to evaluate the efficacy of mesenchymal stem cell therapy combined with conventional treatment versus conventional treatment alone for severe pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus; and to evaluate whether mesenchymal stem cell therapy combined with conventional treatment can improve cure rates and reduce mortality and the occurrence of sequelae such as pulmonary fibrosis. Unlike ordinary drugs, cells are "living" biological preparations. As a new therapeutic approach, when cell technology is applied in the human body, the quality of the cells becomes especially critical. Even small deviations during cell preparation can have a big impact on the final cell quality, in turn affecting the safety and efficacy of clinical application. The major task of the standardized large-scale preparation of clinical-grade mesenchymal stem cells is being shouldered by Beike Biotech.
Beike Biotech has consistently pursued R&D and innovation in the cell field, actively participating in clinical research on mesenchymal stem cells for intractable diseases, and has co-published more than 100 papers in domestic and international journals together with clinical institutions. The Beike Biotech research outcome "Key Technical Innovation and Clinical Application of Allogeneic Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Treating Refractory Lupus Erythematosus" received the 2019 National Technological Invention Award!
Further reading
1. On 2 March, when General Secretary Xi Jinping visited the Academy of Military Medical Sciences and other research front lines to inspect COVID-19 scientific research and tackling work, he stressed: "Winning the people's war, total war and blocking war against the pandemic still requires arduous effort. The more we face such situations, the more we must turn to science for answers and methods. In scientific tackling, we must treat the rescue of severe and critical patients as our top priority, strengthen the deployment of scientific tackling in support of and service to frontline rescue, persist in coordinating clinical research with clinical rescue, and direct more research outcomes toward the clinical front line. We must explore new therapeutic means, do all we can to prevent mild patients from progressing to severe disease, and adopt advanced therapies such as convalescent plasma, stem cells and monoclonal antibodies to raise the level of severe and critical patient care, and reduce mortality as much as possible."
2. The National Science and Technology Awards Conference is the highest honor in China's S&T community. Among these, the National Technological Invention Award has long been a bellwether for major scientific and technological discoveries and inventions. Beike Biotech's receipt of this honor – successfully overcoming such technical challenges as how to obtain standardized, high-quality, safe clinical-grade allogeneic MSCs and how to evaluate the safety and efficacy of allogeneic MSCs in treating refractory SLE in the application of mesenchymal stem cells to systemic lupus erythematosus and other autoimmune diseases (the ARDS that occurs in COVID-19 is itself a kind of autoimmune response) – stems precisely from Beike Biotech's consistent leadership in standardized cell preparation and the establishment of complete cell quality control processes, using these to drive the entire stem cell industry toward greater regulation, standardization and scale.
3. On 3 March 2020, Shenzhen issued multiple policy documents focused on the development of the stem cell industry, including the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Cluster Development of Shenzhen's Biopharmaceutical Industry" and two supporting documents, and the "Several Measures for Promoting the Cluster Development of Shenzhen's Biopharmaceutical Industry". These documents call for developing biotherapy technologies such as stem cell therapy, immunotherapy and gene therapy; strengthening the regulatory system and building a citywide quality monitoring platform with unified standards; and actively promoting the translation of outcomes and supporting the construction of clinical research and translational application platforms for somatic cell therapy.
4. Beike Biotech has a strong R&D team in the field. To date the company has filed 189 patents in the biomedical field, of which 60 have been granted; undertaken more than 60 national, provincial and municipal research projects, including 863 Program projects and Torch Program projects; and published more than 100 papers in the cell field, including 40+ SCI papers, with cumulative impact factor (IF) of 200+.
