Help Stem Cell Innovations

About Help Stem Cell Innovations

Help Therapeutics, also known as Help Stem Cell Innovations, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company established in Nanjing, China, in 2016. The company was founded by Dr. Eugene J. Wang (also referred to as Dr. Jiaxian Wang), who serves as the CEO. Dr. Wang's background as a clinical cardiologist and a research scientist in stem cell and regenerative medicine, with training at institutions like the University of Hong Kong and Mount Sinai School of Medicine, motivated him to address the significant unmet need for heart failure treatments. He identified the potential of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology to offer new solutions for degenerative diseases.

The company's core business is the development of universal, off-the-shelf cell therapy products using iPSC and mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) technologies. Its primary market focus is on treating clinically incurable degenerative diseases, with a strong emphasis on cardiovascular conditions. The business model revolves around the research, development, and eventual commercialization of these cell therapies. Help Therapeutics has successfully raised capital to fund its operations, including a Series C round that secured $25 million in November 2021.

Help Therapeutics' leading product candidate is HiCM-188, an allogeneic cardiomyocyte therapy derived from human iPSCs. This product is designed to treat end-stage and worsening ischemic heart failure by transplanting fresh myocardial cells into damaged areas of the heart, aiming to restore contractile function. A key differentiator for the company is its proprietary, fully automated cell manufacturing platform, known as HELP Cell-foundry, which integrates machine learning and is designed for large-scale production to cGMP standards. Beyond heart failure, the company's R&D pipeline includes therapies for Parkinson's Disease and Age-related Macular Degeneration. Significant milestones include completing the world's first-in-human trial of iPSC-based heart repair, which was reported in *Nature* in 2020, and receiving Investigational New Drug (IND) clearance from both China's CDE and the U.S. FDA to conduct clinical trials for HiCM-188. The company also operates China's first nationally recognized iPSC biospecimen bank.