Organovo

The company bioprints and markets human tissues as a means of accelerating the preclinical drug testing and discovery process, enabling treatments to be created more quickly and at lower cost, and without immediate risks to living test subjects.[3] Organovo has long-term expectations that this technology could be suitable for surgical therapy and transplantation.[4] Organovo also partners with biopharmaceutical companies and academic medical centers to design, build, and validate more predictive in vitro tissues for disease modeling and toxicology. The living test tissues provide researchers the opportunity to test drugs before administering the drug to a living person; this bridges the gap between preclinical testing and clinical trials.

Organovo is actively developing its technology with the intention of eventually being able to replicate entire human organs for transplant.[5]

As of 2014, the company's executive vice-president of commercial operations was Mike Renard.[6]

In 2015, Organovo signed an agreement to provide processes and technology to produce 3D printed human skin to L'Oreal for use in testing the safety and efficacy of cosmetic products.[7]

The human body is made up of different cell types and many technologies for printing these cells vary in their ability to ensure stability and viability of the cells during the manufacturing process. The methods used for 3D bioprinting of cells are photolithography, magnetic 3D bioprinting, stereolithography, and direct cell extrusion. In each process, a physical biopsy of an organ is required. Certain cells from the biopsy are isolated and multiplied. These cells are then mixed with a liquefied material that provides oxygen and other nutrients to keep them alive outside of the human body. The mixture is then placed in a printer cartridge and structured using the patients’ medical scans.[8]

Organovo went public on OTC markets in 2012 via a reverse merger with shell company Real Estate Restoration and Rental, Inc. In July 2013, Organovo uplisted to the NYSE MKT.[9] The company hit of market cap high of $700m in 2013.[10] At the time of listing, Organovo had 22.4 million shares outstanding. Today there are over 130 million.[11]

Gabor Forgacs, the scientific founder of Organovo, promoted medical bioprinting in a TEDMED presentation in 2011. He discussed how bioprinting may solve problems that pertain to organ shortages and high medical costs.[12]