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About Beta-Pro
Reversing Disease: Cellular Therapy is in the Forefront of Regenerative Medicine
The importance of cellular therapy has long been appreciated in the form of life-saving
blood transfusions and bone marrow transplants. Today, a change in medical paradigm
has brought cell therapy back to the forefront of regenerative medicine.
By replacing certain cell populations, a shift is being made from the pharmaceutical
“management” of disease to the possibility of reversing disease. Research
is moving quickly in the field of adult and embryonic stem cell technology, with
many tissues being derived from these early cells.
Islet Transplantation, Beta Cells, and the Emergence of Beta-Pro LLC
Leading the charge into this new frontier of cellular therapy is the replacement
of insulin-producing cells known to people with diabetes as islet cell transplantation.
Still considered experimental, this form of cellular therapy has been hailed as
a cutting edge answer to providing diabetes patients with insulin independence.
Named after the affected beta cells that produce insulin in the islets of Langerhans,
the biotechnology company
Beta-Pro was formed to help find a cure for diabetes. Beta-Pro offers members of the global health
community a sustainable source of customized in vitro islet cells
harvested and isolated from human donor organs that are not suitable for transplantation.
A Partnership with the International Institute for the Advancement of Medicine
Beta-Pro partners with the International
Institute for the Advancement of Medicine (IIAM), one of the largest recovery
networks in the world for the acquisition of donated human tissue for research and
education, to obtain donor organs that do not meet the criteria for transplantation.
IIAM works with various organizations and individual donors throughout the United
States in offering donation of organs and tissue for research and education.
IIAM partners with organizations to make sure non-transplantable organs and other
tissue from donors help researchers every day find new and innovative ways to treat
and cure diabetes and other diseases. In turn,
Beta-Pro is responsible for costs associated with organ procurement, processing,
and handling of human pancreata.
Beta-Pro and Donor Organ Surplus, Procurement, Processing, and Handling
Since only 25% of harvested donor pancreases are suitable for whole organ transplantation,
Beta-Pro leverages this organ surplus for isolation and distribution of insulin-producing,
clinical-grade human pancreatic tissue in the hopes of facilitating a cure for diabetes.
Islet cell preparations that do not meet strict,
requisite criteria for pharmaceutical testing are donated to academic research centers.
Beta-Pro screens these centers before subsequent donation to ensure research activities
are focused on human islet cell biology and methods to expand, preserve, analyze,
and protect islet cells during culture and implantation.
By working closely with the University of Virginia Health System (UVa), Beta-Pro distributes
customized in vitro cellular products to medical centers for research.
UVa performs islet cell transplants and is one of the only institutions in the country
that can isolate insulin-producing tissue from human pancreata for transplantation
into diabetic patients. Beta-Pro subsequently distributes these clinical-grade islets
manufactured in an FDA-approved,
Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) “clean room” facility, to different
organizations:
- Transplant programs
- Pharmaceutical companies
- Contract research corporations
- University research laboratories
The University of Virginia
Health System and Cellular Transplantation
 The
University of Virginia Health System is a national
leader in the fight against diabetes.
In fact, UVa is one of the only institutions in the United States that has cured
diabetes in some patients by means of full-organ pancreas transplantation and islet
cell transplantation.
UVa's Center for Cellular Transplantation is curing people with type 1 diabetes
by providing them with a healthy, insulin-producing gland. The center is also among
a small number of facilities in this country that has successfully performed pancreatic
islet cell transplants.
In 2002, UVa created the Center for Cellular Transplantation and Therapeutics and
established the first human islet cell transplant program in the Commonwealth of
Virginia. The center has performed two islet cell transplants and can now isolate
insulin-producing tissue from human pancreata for transplantation into diabetic
patients. The Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) “clean room” facility
is approved by the FDA as one of a select-few sites where donor pancreas islet-cells
can be isolated.
Visit the
UVa Health System Transplant Program Web site for more information.
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