I heard a story on NPR this morning that was fascinating before the money angle ever got mentioned. Seems a company in China called Beike Biotechnology is treating optic nerve hypoplasia (ONH) among other things with stem cells and having some success. And according to the NPR story, they've also gotten venture capital money - $15 million in VC funds (which is a pretty hefty chunk).

ONH is described in the article as a condition "when the optic nerves fail to develop properly in the womb." There is evidently no conventional medical treatment. But Beike is treating children with stem cells (for about $20,000) and seeing some positive result. They are evidently quick to acknowledge that they can't explain their results yet. And that has brought them some criticism from the larger medical community.

Beike has avoided some of the controversy surrounding stem cell work by using umbilical stem cells instead of embryonic stem cells. So far Beike has treated about 2500 patients - many of them Americans who have traveled to China against the advise of US specialists. Perhaps their most famous patient has been the former Lord Mayor of the city of Manchester, England - Audrey Jones. She has a debilitating and life-threatening condition known as cerebellar atrophy.

Beike was founded in January of 2005 with capital from Beijing University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Shenzhen City Hall. The company currently has more than 60 researchers focusing on stem cells.

The source of Beike's VC funding is unclear.