L’Oreal Inks Research Deal with Organovo

As miraculous as it sometimes seems, additive manufacturing (AM) is still a developing technology. Realistically, AM has only been around for 25 years or so, making it younger than video games, cell phones, and any number of other technologies now taken for granted. Further, within AM itself, you can find a number of variations on the technology that are even younger.

Bioprinting is one such variation. The ability to take human cells and produce functioning organs could well be the next big breakthrough in medical technology. Research requires funding, and Organovo, one of the pioneers of bioprinting, has recently landed a new partner to back its work in the form of cosmetics giant L’Oreal.

“Organovo has broken new ground with 3-D bioprinting, an area that complements L'Oreal's pioneering work in the research and application of reconstructed skin for the past 30 years,” said Guive Balooch, global VP of L'Oreal's technology incubator. “Our partnership will not only bring about new advanced in vitro methods for evaluating product safety and performance, but the potential for where this new field of technology and research can take us is boundless.”

On the surface, bioprinting is pretty easy to explain. Researchers take biomatter (often human cells) and suspend it in a fluid. That mixture forms the ink for the bioprinting process. From there AM systems build tissue to form organs, such as skin, kidneys and so on. While the concept is easy to explain, it’s much harder to perfect, thus the need for continuing research.

The research deal comes at a good time for both L’Oreal and Organovo. When the company launched its IPO, Organovo excited the imagination of investors resulting in a flood of funding for research. Unfortunately investors often expect a quick turnaround, and research isn’t something you can hurry. In the last 52 weeks, Organovo’s stock price dropped calamitously from a high of 9.25, to a low of 3.29.

L’Oreal is facing a different kind of problem. Increasing regulation (and condemnation) of animal testing around the world is making it difficult for the company to inexpensively test its products. As it seems unlikely that human subjects would be willing to step up, using fabricated tissue to test products seems like the next best alternative. The result is a partnership that should benefit both companies.

Below you’ll find a video about Organovo.

Source: Organovo