A Bioprinting World Map

June 19, 2019 by Vanesa Listek 3D Printing Bioprinting Business Medical 3D Printing

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With 119 established bioprinting companies and many entrepreneurs worldwide showing interest in the emerging field, it’s just a matter of time before it becomes one of the most sought-after technologies. Mapping the companies that make up this industry is a good starting point to understand the bioprinting ecosystem, determine where most companies have established their headquarters, and learn more about potential hubs, like the one in San Francisco. The technology has gained increasing attention due to the ability to control the placement of cells, biomaterials, and molecules for tissue regeneration. For example, researchers are using bioprinting to create cardiac patches meant to be transplanted directly onto a patient’s heart after a cardiovascular attack, as well as custom printing an implant to precisely fill the space left after removing diseased bone. In addition, bioprinting has been used to test for 3D printing of tailored skin grafts for patients with large wound areas, print muscle, and even for micro stereolithography 3D printing to repair damaged nerve connections. Bioprinting companies worldwide are continuously innovating in regenerative medicine, drug therapies, tissue engineering, stem cell biology, and biotechnology, getting a lot of attention from a public eager to envision a future with better patient care, alternatives to organ transplants, and customized medical treatments. To increase knowledge and research, most bioprinting firms have established partnerships with several research organizations, universities, and even government institutions, to jointly create and develop projects that are often published in academic journals. Actually, the literature available on the subject to date is quite vast and growing thanks to the advances in biotechnology and is a great tool for communicating and validating most of this breakthrough knowledge.

The data we collected reveals that the United States is the biggest player, with 39 percent of the companies headquartered in 18 states. And although 28% of the total number of companies in the US are located in California, 33 percent have emerged in East Coast states like Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland. The European continent is home to 35 percent of the companies, followed by Asia with 17 percent, Latin America (5%), and Oceania (3%). Countries like Great Britain, Germany, and France absorb most of the businesses, representing a 53% stake out of all the European companies. The leader in Asia is China, with three big names. However, the country is heavily relying on university research to advance the technology, and researchers are using their own in-house designed research, which is probably why we are still waiting to see an expansion of companies.

Researchers, private companies, and universities everywhere are very interested in advancing bioprinting technologies. And although there is a long way to determine how these results will perform in a clinical setting, advances show that the potential in therapeutic and regenerative medicine, surgeries, and overall healthcare is huge. Even 4D bioprinting may have the potential for greater strides in medicine and tissue regeneration since it shows more control over pore size, shape, and interconnectivity. In addition, the bioprinting business gives scientists and medical researchers the tools to prototype, model, build, and solidify living human tissues. From printing machines to bioinks, even scanners and software to further enhance their work, this interconnected environment has the potential to transform life as we know it.

Pioneer companies such as Organovo, regenHU, CELLINK, and Digilab have been at the forefront of bioprinting for years, creating some of the most innovative machines in the market, which in the right hands, can make all the difference—such as the case with Organovo’s bioprinting platform, recently implemented by Leiden University Medical Center scientists to develop stem cell-based bioprinted tissue treatments for kidney disease, or Cellink’s Bio X machine, which a Florida A&M University professor used to create the first 3D print of human cornea in the United States.

Many of these businesses focus on tissue engineerings, like Cyfuse Biomedical, Regenovo Biotechnology, Aspect Biosystems, or nScrypt. For instance, researchers using Allevi printers have been automating the creation of tumor models, printing vasculature within 3D gels, and achieving physiological markers unseen before in tissues. This requires a ton of knowledge about the microenvironment of the specific tissues and organs through biomimicry or by manufacturing artificial tissues or organs by reproducing cellular and extracellular components natively present. This know-how is essential for in vitro manufacturing living tissues with the same size and geometry as native organs.

Many commercially available 3D bioprinters are used in several research areas, like bioengineering, disease modeling, or studies of biomaterials. There are different versions, including syringe-based extrusion of hydrogels or bioinks, inkjet printing, laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) (which is a relatively new printing technique that enables transfer from a thin-film donor material onto a chosen receiver placed nearby), and stereolithography (a form of 3D printing technology used for creating models, prototypes, patterns, and production parts in a layer by layer fashion using photopolymerization).

Bioprinting is leading the way into some of the most advanced research ever done in medicine, becoming a beaming source of hope for hundreds of thousands of people who consider the future of healthcare to be focused on patient-specific treatment and increased life expectancies. Thanks to many of the breakthroughs done at research facilities around the globe and booming interest in the technology applications, perhaps in a year, our map will need to be updated, and bioprinting companies will have increased significantly. Still, the core of what they are doing has remained the same for the past couple of years. In addition, partnerships continue to emerge among businesses, scientists, and researchers, eager to apply their innovative spirit, knowledge of biological sciences, engineering, mathematics, and other fields that are contributing to the unstoppable evolution of bioprinting, so that it can eventually transition from the research and development phases to the pre-clinical and trial, getting one step closer to changing people’s lives.

NORTH AMERICA

The US and Canadian bioprinting market include the following companies: