By the way, who are you and what do you do?

Just like we said in the homepage, Beike Europe is the european representative for Shenzhen Beike Biotechnologies Ltd - chinese leading company in stem cells research, and in their clinical application as well.

To sum up, our work consists in: 1) promoting their activities in the Old Continent, and 2) taking care of the european patients. Before taking their decision to go and be treated in China, they quite obviously have to be thoroughly informed. Our e-mail address, our phone lines and our offices in Lugano, Switzerland, are here exactly for this.


Are the research standards in China at the same levels as in the west?

The fact is under everybody’s eyes: the “asian giant” is running at an impressive rhythm, in all fields. Shenzhen Beike Biotechnologies, its hospitals and its laboratories are a bright example of such a technologic renaissance. Not many are aware that China has the most researchers with PhDs in the world. It’s because of the affordability of hiring educated researchers in China, that many of the leading five hundred companies -including Microsoft- have set up large research facilities in China.

But stick to medical matters, and let’s speak about those who have been studying stem cells since a long time: they have a lot of experience in bringing lab research into hospitals. What abroad still is “mere theory”, in China it’s something absolutely “practical”, i.e. clinical applications that are already helping thousands of people. We daresay that as far as stem cells are concerned, China has long time reached a level that West -for several reasons- is still far from achieving.


How did this web site come to be? What do you hope to achieve with it?

Since 2001 chinese hospitals have been treating many patients with stem cells and have had good results. Nearly every week chinese media report news about research developments in this field, but this does not reach the West.

This website (and Beike Europe’s activity in general) is aimed at presenting all this in Europe: we want these informations to be available. Furthermore, with this website we hope to increase the level of communication between patients living in various european countries -and interested in the possibility offered by stem cells- and other patients that have already been treated in China. Quite simply, Beike Europe wants its work and this communication flux to result in more people getting healthy.

How do you get the informations provided in this website?

We get them directly from Shenzhen Beike Biotechnologies. They interview the patients during the treatments and record some “before and after the cure” videos: all this is considered as an integral part of the treatment itself. Provided the patient allows Shenzhen Beike Biotechnologies to publish this material, we then republish it on our own website.


What does it happen when a patient sends an info request to you?

There’s something that very few people imagine, i.e. Beike Europe rejects at least 40% of the incoming requests, since they pertain to pathologies considered either not treatable or not sufficiently tested, or to pathologies that -after the treatment- would show very small improvements, insufficient anyway to justify the patient’s efforts, both economic and physical.

Our mission is to improve the patient’s quality of life. Should this improvement be not appreciable, we would have betrayed our mission and -even worse- disillusioned a patient… hence, although it is very sad for us to do so, we prefer to oppose a polite but firm “no”. The policy of saying “stem cells are good for everything, from skin wrinkles to terminal cancer” is something really insane, that we are all to happy to leave to others.


What if the patient belongs to the lucky 60% ?

In such a case, our staff will do the best to clarify all his doubts, helping him to take the best decision. E-mail, phone calls, appointments in our offices in Lugano: all that is needed to carefully evaluate with patient and chinese doctors the real necessity for him to face the cost of the treatment and the long trip. Should patient eventually decide to go, we organize his stay in China. 

Please, see Beike Europe as a gateway and as your guide to a treatment that is not yet well known in the West. A treatment that is offered on the other side of the world. We are here to ensure that your treatment goes as smooth as possible.

So, it seems possible to meet you in your swiss offices. But tell me, are you a medical center, a sort of clinic or what?

It is surely possible to come and meet us -after having called in advance, of course- but mind you, it will be an informative speech, nothing else. Beike Europe is a promotional branch providing assistance and information but definitely not a medical facility, hence do not expect us to make visits, analyses, X-rays and so on.

What makes you feel you are qualified to provide this information?

We work in constant contact with our General Medical Consultant and the chinese medical staff, and we know we are dealing with highly motivated people: their long curriculum vitae speaks in their favour. Given that, whenever a patient submits his case to us, we -as Beike Europe- can provide him with a mere first evaluation, that is based on our experience: it goes without saying that if a keener opinion is needed, due to the peculiar conditions of each single case, we refer to the above mentioned persons. They are the source of the final opinion, and we merely report it.

Okay, let’s assume that the patient decides to try. What about the date of departure? Is your waiting list long?

Yes, it’s quite long - no way to book a treatment on Monday and embark the plane the following Sunday. Whenever patients question us about the waiting list, we would like to give them precise answers, but honestly we cannot provide precise forecasts. Beike Europe is not the unique Shenzhen Beike Biotechnologies “ambassador” abroad. In other parts of the world other organizations akin to ours support Beike’s work with the same unending enthusiasm, hence the patients’ flux towards China does not depend on us only.

Anyway, practical experience showed us that a two months period in the waiting list is the minimum. In the last months (let’s say first half of 2007) the requests literally rocketed to the sky. To face this situation the opening of new hospitals has been planned by Beike.

Yes, in another page of this website I read that Beike runs several hospitals, all over China and Thailand. May I choose which city to go?

No. The assignment to one hospital or another is something pertaining uniquely to the Central Reservation Department.

Anyway, we want to point out that all european patients are normally assigned to the Bangkok facilities. We say "normally" since it goes without saying that in periods of very strong request the clinic Bangkok might not be able to cope with all our reservations; in a situation like that an european patient might consequently be assigned to other facilities, but this rarely turns up.

Not a chance to be treated here in Europe? If not in my country possibly at yours, in Switzerland?

We are working on that, with all the possible support from Shenzhen Beike Biotechnologies, but it’s no easy task. This is something that simply won’t be done in a short while. Let’s speak clearly: should a person need a stem cells treatment, we would not recommend him to wait for the opening of a Beike Hospital here in Europe.


Well, back to the treatment: is there any side effect?

Little or no side effects. Some patients will experience a headache, some nausea, mild fever and excessive urination after their first spinal cord injection of stem cells. These symptoms usually last 48 to 72 hours and can be easily managed. Furthermore, such symptoms do not occur when stem cells are transplanted using an IV (intravenous).


And what about a possible rejection?

No rejection either. Shenzhen Beike Biotechnologies treats patient with stem cells isolated from the umbilical cord blood, and a treatment in this format carries no associated risks. Cord blood has a muted immune system, consequently stem cells are not yet educated to attack the recipient. Another important issue: in front of very little or no immune reactions in the recipients, immune suppressants are not needed and this is good, since immune suppressants can be toxic to neurons.


I heard about GVHD, a potentially fatal rejection case.

Yes, in front of a GVHD (Graft Versus Host Disease) case the risk of death do exists. Anyway, let us point out two very important things: first, GVHD is very rare; second, GVHD strikes within the frame of fetal and/or adult stem cells transplants – nothing to do with Beike’s undifferentiated umbilical cord blood stem cells: these cells proved themselves to be not only the most versatile and powerful, but also the safest. That’s why Beike chose to focus on them.


Did you ever loose a patient following a GVHD case?

Since 2001 we have treated nearly five thousand people -both chinese and westerners- and not a single patient lost his life. Sorry for repeating, but the “worst” rejections we saw consisted in some fever lines and a general sensation of being wrecked: and it’s just a possibility, not a certainty.


What can you tell me about safety? Are your cells absolutely healthy?

The Government of People’s Republic of China has implemented the same standards of the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) for testing the blood from the placenta and umbilical cord to ensure the highest levels of protection form communicable diseases. There’s more: when stem cells reach Beike’s laboratory they undergo a second test, before being put in a culture medium to proliferate, in conditions of absolute safety and sterility. Shenzhen Beike Biotechnologies issues, for every performed test, a certificate guaranteeing that the stem cells are disease free. Our laboratories have the finest equipment available to control the screening quality.


What does Beike guarantee to me?

First of all, the highest level of safety; then,  the highest number of cells at the least cost, a truly huge quantity, i.e. between ten and fifteen million umbilical cord stem cells in a single injection.  A certificate from the lab will be provided, clearly indicating such a quantity. In other words, during the treatment the patient will receive between forty and sixty million cells. Shenzhen Beike Biotechnologies  guarantees that in front of such a quantity, its price is the least expensive in the world.

Do you take any responsibility for the treatments that you talk about on this web site?

No. Beike Europe’s main goal is to provide information about research and treatments in China involving stem cells. We do our best only to provide patients with information on something that we feel is legitimate. However, if we mention informations related to a hospital or a treatment and we are positive about them, then please be sure that we have checked into the matter and we are reporting the situation as we saw it.

Nevertheless, being Beike Europe a sheer promotional service, we quite clearly  take no direct responsibility for the treatment itself or the service provided by the hospital, just like we are not to be held responsible for any of the doctors mentioned on this site.


Be frankly honest: will I be healed?

No. Stem cells haven’t got the power to fully heal a disease, i.e. to completely free a person from an illness. Shenzhen Beike Biotechnologies, and Beike Europe as well, do not want to sell false hopes – and it’s of paramount importance to be extremely clear on this point.


Then why should I spend a lot of money, not to mention the fatiguing long trip?

You should do that in the name of a better quality of life. This is what stem cells can actually offer: an improvement of the physical conditions. A better mobility, more autonomy: quite simply, the possibility to recover some functions that many patients got used to consider as totally lost. Furthermore, in many cases a stem cells therapy acted so well that the progression of the disease was slowed down at such a level, that it was nearly blocked. This is something worth thinking carefully about.


Can you quantify the improvement percentages?

We cannot forecast (nor promise) precise percentages of improvement. Too many are the variables: kind of pathology, patient’s age, disease history and so on. Each and every single patient is "a story of his own". We strive to be serious professionals and we reject such an impossible (and not serious at all) practice like providing precise improvement percentages.

What we can say is that -considering the long series of positively treated previous cases- we can hypotize that our stem cells therapy will cause some improvement in patient’s physical conditions. Although it is a gross simplification, for the sake of clarity we’d say that in the bulk of cases the treatment’s result is satisfactory, while in a small number of cases is either small or huge.

Did you ever treat patients with no positive results at all, I mean less than small?

Yes, it happened – unfortunately - but in a limited number of cases. An example: we have treated more than one hundred and fifty chinese children for several pathologies: cerebral palsy, SMA, lissencephaly, stroke, etc. Well, only on four of them our treatment was totally useless.

Rumour has it that stem cells may induce cancer…

This is nothing but a sort of urban legend created and supported by the opponents to the development of this new therapy. When solid arguments are lacking, then myths are widespreaded - that’s it.

Being frankly honest a risk do exists (mind you, we said “risk” and not certainty) that in a situation involving a pre-existing tumour, our umbilical cord stem cells celerity and versatility may act as a dangerous boomerang. In other words, stem cells might not “recognize” the tumour and simply develop themselves into cancerous cells, worsening the problem. Again, this is just a possibility and not something carved on rock: our scientists and researchers are working on this issue, that sooner or later will be solved. Right now anyway, whenever a patient suffering from (let’s say) Multiple Sclerosis signals to us the concomitance of a tumour -although benign- before giving green light to his treatment we ask for the result of biopsies, etc – and we send everything to China. It will be the chinese medical staff to evaluate the medical chart and decide whether the risk is acceptable or not.

Anyway, such a cancer must be pre-existing. Beike’s experience clearly showed that there’s not a single valid reason for stem cells to induce cancer in people who do not already suffer from it.


In general, any possibility for a patient to get worse after the treatment?

No way. It never happened. As we said before, in some cases even stem cells were useless. The rarity of such cases it’s no consolation for those patients and their families’ frustration, of course: but despite such a bad psychological drawback, we are at least able to say with security that never, a Beike treatment ended with the worsening of patient’s physical conditions.


Your treatment has to be fully prepaid in advance. Honestly, to me it looks like buying a sealed box with an uncertain treatment inside.

Ok, let’s say something about this “uncertainty”. Sorry for being so repetitive, but we do want to underline that the true fiascos (i.e. a totally ineffective treatments) are sporadic – to say the least. We’d love to say that fiascos do not exist at all, but unfortunately this would be a false statement.

Hence, when a patient faces the cost requested by Shenzhen Beike Biotechnologies, high are for him the chances of some improvement although -as clearly said before- we cannot quantify nor promise precise percentage and timing of the improvement itself.

Given that, the prepaid treatment does not depend on some Beike Europe’s decision. We are just a local branch structured to promote, inform and assist - but surely not to treat patients. The payment in advance is required by Shenzhen Beike Biotechnologies, since it’s up to them to treat patients and consequently to manage all related costs deriving from the hospital stay and the clinical applications.