A Healthy Future
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E-mail“It’s two different cultures,” NeoStem Inc. (NBS) Chairman and CEO Robin Smith says about doing business in China. “But if you can figure out how to bridge the gap, you’ve got a home run.”
Smith says that NeoStem, which collects, processes and stores adult stem cells, or ASCs, for use in future medical treatment, is ramping up its business in China in part because of the differences in regulation there. “Stem cell therapy is under the jurisdiction of the minister of health,” she explains. “This should provide the ability to start delivering therapies a little more quickly than in the U.S.” The company expects to deliver its first therapies in China this quarter.
Thousands of clinical trials are studying the use of ASCs for ailments, including heart disease, MS and lupus, as well as for aging and orthopedics, Smith notes: “Stem cells are the body’s repair mechanism. With NeoStem’s technologies, patients can collect their own stem cells for potential therapy later in life.”
A focus in both the U.S. and China is the company’s technology that isolates very small embryonic-like stem cells, or VSELs.™ “Studies have shown that 24 hours after a stroke or heart attack, circulating VSELs enhance the body’s natural ability to repair itself,” Smith says. “What we are doing here and in China is seeing how we can use these cells in drugs.”
