Organovo inks L’Oreal deal for 3d-printed skin

May 7, 2015 By Mark Hollmer

Organovo (PINK:ONVO) will partner with global beauty company L’Oreal (EPA:OR) to produce 3D-printed skin as a product-testing tool.

Neither side is disclosing financial details, but plans call for San Diego-based Organovo to work with L’Oreal USA to generate skin tissue for a number of areas of advanced research. Evaluation of new skincare product is 1 part of the deal.

Organovo is known for developing 3D human tissue models with pharmaceutical, cosmetic and academic partners. The company said that this arrangement is the 1st such deal it has made with a company from the beauty industry.

"This partnership is a great next step to expand the applications of Organovo’s 3D bioprinting technology and to create value for both L’Oreal and Organovo by building new breakthroughs in skin modeling," chairman & CEO Keith Murphy said in prepared remarks.

Guive Balooch, global vice president of L’Oreal’s technology incubator, added that the deal will, in part, "bring about new advanced in vitro methods for evaluating product safety and performance."

Organovo made its initial start in 3D-printed diagnostic assays, allowing pharmaceutical companies, for example, to more thoroughly test liver toxicity. Separately, researchers have also used the technique for bio-printing living cells to make stem cell grafts.

3D printers have also been used to make medical devices such as skull fragment replacements and home-made plastic prosthetics.

Switchback Medical adds ‘sandbox approach’ to device testing
Contract manufacturer Switchback Medical (Maple Grove, Minn.) today announced that it has added a new division. Switchback BioSim Innovations offers functional dynamic biosimulator model development, cell culture services and physician training, according to the company. Biosimulator models use animal and human tissue to create functional models, such as a pumping heart with working valves to… […]
Smith College team wins ventilator design challenge
A team of Smith College engineering alumnae, staff and faculty has won the CoVent-19 Challenge to design a rapidly deployable ventilator to address shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in developing countries. A dozen anesthesiology resident physicians from Massachusetts General Hospital kicked off the public challenge April 1, attracting 200 entries. The 30-person team… […]
FDA gives certain device makers more time to add UDIs
The FDA said today that it will grant manufacturers of Class 1 and unclassified medical devices and certain others more time to add unique device identifiers (UDIs) to their products. These companies will now have until Sept. 24, 2022 to comply with the agency’s UDI rule, including standard date formatting, labeling and Global Unique Device… […]
Eurofins launches 10-minute COVID-19 exposure testing device
Eurofins (Paris:ERF.PA) announced today that it launched its rapid point-of-care testing devices to identify past exposure to COVID-19. The serology-based, finger-prick tests detect antibodies with a sensitivity of 94.5% from 19 days following the onset of symptoms, with results coming in just 10 minutes, according to a news release. Get the full story at our sister site,… […]
How is RF technology shaping the future of medtech?
RF technology, including microwaves, isn’t just about wireless communications or military radar these days. Times Microwave Systems experts point out that it is increasingly important when it comes to medtech. Many medical electronics systems such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems for cancer detection rely on RF/microwave technology. Times Microwave Systems (Wallingford, Conn.) is hosting… […]
Medical device litigation and COVID-19: What you need to know
The COVID-19 pandemic is creating a new set of medical device litigation challenges — but also a chance for an industry reset. One of Greenberg Traurig’s top medtech litigation lawyers shares her insights. Sara Thompson doesn’t take any guff when she tells people that she defends medical device and pharmaceutical companies from lawsuits. “I say,… […]
Mayo Clinic needed to engineer its way through COVID-19: Here’s what they did.
The health system’s medical and engineering staffs had to devise their own solutions for lab gear, PPE and operating room air decontamination. As COVID-19 settles into several regions of the U.S., healthcare systems that once sat on the sidelines likely will find themselves in the same situation as their counterparts in the Northeast did earlier… […]
Xenco Medical launches porous spinal implant
Xenco Medical this week said it launched its Cancellex porous titanium lumbar interbodies. The injection-molded titanium foam spinal implants are designed to be pre-attached to disposable, composite polymer instruments. They feature interconnected porosity throughout each implant and are designed to promote bone apposition and facilitate vascularization Each implant is sterile packaged and comes pre-attached to… […]
Applied Plastics adds VP of sales
Applied Plastics (Norwood, Mass.) — maker of PTFE-coated products for advanced catheter systems — announced today that Michael Brown has joined the company as VP of sales and marketing. Brown will be responsible for global sales and marketing, including Applied Plastics’ new online store, which offers shipment within the U.S. and Europe. The company recently… […]
Heraeus Medical Components opens new Collaboration Hub outside Minneapolis
Heraeus Medical Components recently announced that it has opened a new nearly 67,000-square-foot Collaboration Hub in the Minneapolis-St. Paul medtech cluster. The Collaboration Hub — a completely new location near the Heraeus’ existing Fridley, Minn. facility — is meant to provide the company’s customers with the opportunity to work on-site with Heraeus Medical component R&D… […]
Pantheon Surgical acquires sacroiliac screw system
Pantheon Surgical recently announced its acquisition of the Topaz/Compressive sacroiliac screw system. Pantheon Surgical acquired the technology from Osseus Fusion Systems, which will continue to distribute the Blue Topaz/Compressive system. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed. “I’m excited about the transfer acquisition of the Blue Topaz/Compressive system into the Pantheon armamentarium. I look forward… […]