The Vatican Invests $1 Million in Stem Cell Biotech Firm NeoStem

Part of the reason given was charitable to bring about an awareness of what adult stem cells can do. The Department of Defense has also invested in the company relative to their treatment of osteoporosis and bone health. This is a Chinese owned company with offices for research and development in the US with one major facility in Cambridge, Massachusetts right outside of Harvard.

Progenitor Cell Therapy was acquired by NeoStem and when you go back to the development of Provenge, the company was part of the success of the creation of the drug and everyone knows the Dendreon story. The 2 began working together back as early as 2000. Perhaps via NeoStem we might see more types of this class of drug developed, but we also have to be able to afford them. They also have a division that helps people bank and store their stem cells. It’s a small company but there’s a lot going on. It used to be that biotech companies had a few areas of focus but with mergers and acquisitions that is changing. The investment of the Catholic Church was a bit of an unexpected partner in the stem cell business. BD

The fiery subject of medicine based on human stem cells usually evokes roiling controversy, often generating more questions than answers. So, stem cell therapies have yet to catch on among investors -- and on Wall Street. No wonder a tiny company like NeoStem (NBS), which focuses on stem cell research and its medical applications, continues to be underappreciated, if not ignored.

And yet it has attracted several big-name investors that are intrigued by some unexpected events, including the Catholic Church's surprising embrace of NeoStem's research and NeoStem's foothold in China's vast health care market. The Vatican has decided to invest $1 million in NeoStem, a biopharmaceutical company developing proprietary cellular therapies. NeoStem is aiming to become a single source for the collection, storage and manufacture of adult stem cells -- rather than embryonic stem cells from aborted fetuses -- for cell-based medicine and regenerative science.

NeoStem acquired 51% of Suzhou Erye Pharmaceuticals in China, which produces a series of antibiotics, including penicillin and cephlasporins.