14 DAY TRIAL // One of the ultimate goals of 3D printing technology is to eventually make it possible to create transplantable organs and limbs, but that's still decades away. Organovo doesn't see anything wrong with placing the first foundations early though.
The company, based in San Diego, is using 3D printing technology to create human tissue, specifically liver cells.
The cells are meant to be employed in the testing of new drugs. Normally, pre-clinical testing needs samples, time to grow cell colonies, and billions of dollars’ worth of equipment and resources.
Worse, the methods aren't really accurate, not fully, which is why side effects and complications happen once a new treatment is tried out on rats and eventually human subjects.
Organovo's 3D printed liver cells should reduce some of the time it takes to carry out the tests, and make them cheaper too.
They are already negotiating contracts with pharmaceutical and biotech firms for the use of the 3D printed liver tissue samples.
The samples are capable of surviving long-term exposure to drugs, making them ideal for testing. Depending on how many prospective buyers share that opinion, the list of firms featuring contracts signed with by Organovo will grow by the end of this year.