Recently, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology announced the review results of the third round of project plans for the 2020 Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Innovation Strategic Special Fund (Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Emergency Response Project for the Prevention and Control of New Coronavirus Infection). Provincial financial funds of more than 33 million yuan have been invested in the three batches of projects. Among them, the “Clinical Research on Human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells for the Treatment of Severe Pneumonia Caused by Coronavirus” project jointly submitted by Beike Biotech and the Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital, which is the only designated hospital in Shenzhen to treat patients with new coronavirus pneumonia, was approved by the Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology for the 2020 Guangdong Provincial Emergency Response Project for New Coronavirus Prevention and Control Technology.
The COVID-19 epidemic is raging and has a huge impact on people’s health and social economy. Stem cells, as a type of cells with the ability to self-renew and differentiate, have been highly expected to repair lung damage in patients with COVID-19 since the outbreak. On March 2, General Secretary Xi Jinping visited the front lines of scientific research and listened to an overall report on scientific research for the prevention and control of the new coronavirus epidemic. He emphasized that “the key to improving the cure rate, reducing the mortality rate, and ultimately defeating the epidemic lies in science and technology,” and highlighted stem cells. On March 17, Zhang Xinmin, director of the Biological Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology, introduced at the press conference of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council, “Stem cells can quickly relieve or stop the worsening of dyspnea in severe and critically ill patients. In addition, stem cells can block the process of pulmonary fibrosis and promote the repair of lung damage, showing that they have unique advantages in preventing pulmonary fibrosis and improving the long-term prognosis of patients.”
It is reported that the project applied for this time uses human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells to treat patients with severe pneumonia caused by the coronavirus. The project adopts a randomized parallel control design to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of severe pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus; evaluate the efficacy of mesenchymal stem cells combined with conventional treatment in severe pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus compared with conventional treatment; and evaluate whether mesenchymal stem cells combined with conventional treatment can improve the cure rate, reduce the mortality rate, and reduce the occurrence of sequelae such as pulmonary fibrosis. Different from general medicines, cells are “living” biological agents. As a new treatment method, the quality of cells is particularly important when cell technology is applied to the human body. Small deviations in the cell preparation process will have a great impact on the final cell quality, thus affecting the safety and effectiveness of clinical applications. Among them, the important task of preparing clinical-grade mesenchymal stem cells on a standardized scale is undertaken by Beike Biotech.
Beike Biotech has always adhered to R&D innovation in the field of cells and actively participated in clinical research on mesenchymal stem cells in refractory diseases. It has collaborated with clinical institutions to publish 100+ papers at home and abroad. The research result of Beike Biotechnology “Key technological innovation and clinical application of allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of refractory lupus erythematosus” won the 2019 National Technology Invention Award!
Further reading
1. On March 2, General Secretary Xi Jinping came to the Academy of Military Medical Sciences and other scientific research frontlines to inspect the scientific research work on the COVID-19 epidemic. He emphasized that “winning the people’s war, general war, and interception war to prevent and control the epidemic still requires hard work. The more we face this situation, the more we must insist on asking science for answers and methods. Scientific research must treat the treatment of critically ill patients as a top priority, and strengthen Scientific research will support and serve the deployment of front-line treatment, adhere to the coordination of clinical research and clinical treatment, and explore new treatment methods to prevent mild patients from transforming into severe cases. Advanced treatments such as convalescent plasma, stem cells, and monoclonal antibodies should be used to improve the treatment of severe and critical cases and reduce the mortality rate as much as possible.”
2. The National Science and Technology Awards Conference is the highest honor in China’s science and technology community. Among them, the National Technology Invention Award has always been the benchmark for key scientific and technological discoveries and inventions. Beike Biotech was able to win this honor because it successfully overcame how to obtain standardized, high-quality and safe clinical-grade allogeneic MSCs and how to evaluate them when applying mesenchymal stem cells to treat autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (ARDS is an autoimmune reaction when COVID-19 occurs). Technical problems such as the safety and effectiveness of allogeneic MSC in the treatment of refractory SLE are based on Beike Biotech’s continuous leadership in standardized cell preparation and the establishment of a complete cell quality control process, and in this way, it promotes the continuous development of the entire stem cell industry toward standardization, standardization, and scale.
3. On March 3, 2020, Shenzhen City issued a number of documents focusing on the development of the stem cell industry, including the “Guiding Opinions of Shenzhen City on Promoting the Cluster Development of the Biomedical Industry” and two supporting documents, and “Several Measures of Shenzhen City to Promote the Cluster Development of the Biomedical Industry”. Both of them mentioned the need to develop biotherapeutic technologies such as stem cell therapy, immunotherapy, and gene therapy; strengthen the construction of the regulatory system and build a standard and unified quality monitoring platform covering the whole city; and actively promote the transformation of results and support the establishment of a clinical research and transformation application platform for somatic cell therapy.
4. Beike Biotech has a strong R&D team in the field. It has applied for 189 related patents in the biomedical field, 60 of which have been authorized; it has undertaken more than 60 national, provincial and municipal scientific research projects including 863 projects, Torch Program projects, etc.; it has published 100+ papers related to the cell field, including 40+ SCI papers, with a cumulative impact factor (IF) of 200+.