Biotechnology firm联合治疗学and Israeli bioprinting firmCollPlant有broadened their partnership to enter into the serial manufacturing of 3D printed kidneys.
The new agreement, which builds on the companies’ initial deal in 2018, will结合CollPlant与曼联的新技术Therapeutics’ manufacturing capacity to put 3D printed organs into production. As part of the contract,United Therapeutics还支付了300万美元，用于独家许可套餐的胶原蛋白和Bio-Ink产品，用于未来的项目。
双方都希望，他们的加强伙伴关系将减少全球对管风琴移植的等待时间，从而挽救世界各地数百万的生命。
“Organ shortages are an unmet global health need,” said Yehiel Tal, CEO of CollPlant. “By partnering with United Therapeutics for the past couple of years, we have made significant progress with this pivotal organ manufacturing initiative.”
CollPlant’s 3D bioprinting technologies
Founded in 2004, CollPlant is a regenerative and aesthetic medicine company that develops technologies and products for tissue regeneration and organ manufacturing applications. The company leverages its proprietary plant-based technology to mass produce recombinant Type I collagen, which is identical to that made in the human body.
In May 2017,CollPlant set up a division这是致力于将其胶原蛋白变成独特的生物墨水配方。该公司成功地开发了一种生物墨水，该生物企业曾经暴露于紫外线，将其变成与3D打印兼容的基于细胞的水凝胶。自从该公司开发出新的公式以来的几年中，它已获得投资者的大力支持以扩展其应用程序。
The firm received aninitial $5 million in fundingfrom a U.S. investor in September 2017, and later gained another$5.5 million from a group of investorsearlier this year. Utilizing its newly-raised resources, CollPlant has continually developed its technology, with the aim of deploying it within end-use applications. In August 2019, the firm took its first steps towards serial production, creating a series ofprototype 3D printed breast implants。
More recently, the company has sought to collaborate with larger 3D printing companies, with the aim of more effectively scaling the use of its novel collagen-based bio-ink. Having initially signeddeals with 3D Systemsand United Therapeutics to create additive lungs and scaffolds, CollPlant is now building on the latter, as it aims to enter serial production.
联合治疗学’ 3D printed kidney factory
根据美国的说法Health Resources and Services Administration（HRSA）目前有超过109,000名美国人在国家移植等候名单上，有92,000名等待潜在的救生肾脏捐助者。结果，3D生物打印的替代方案仍然是开发的关键领域，而添加剂器官将进入生产的消息可能代表其更广泛采用的重要一步。
United Therapeutics和Coldplant之间的最新交易是建立在collaboration that the firms established in 2018。Collplant最初同意提供其新颖的Bio-Ink，并为United Therapeutics提供技术支持。现在，当公司试图扩展其整体生物打印生产能力，并为创建添加剂器官建立美国设施时，这些公司正在更加紧密地合作。
Although the partnership is currently focused on transplantable bioprinted lungs, United Therapeutics also has the opportunity to explore the use of CollPlant’s bio-ink technology for up to three more organs. If the companies do go ahead with developing further additive implants, CollPlant will be due up to $15 million dollars in pre-agreed milestone payments.
Describing United Therapeutics as a “pioneer” in the emerging field of organ manufacturing, Tal said that CollPlant was “honored to be part” of the new deal, and described it as a “vital building block in regenerative medicine.”
作为准备连续生产的准备工作的一部分，两家公司最近将以前的烟草生产综合体变成了现代的3D生物打印工厂。具有讽刺意味的是，重塑了一个积极的健康影响的设施，并没有在United Therapeutics首席执行官Martine Rothblatt上丢失。
“We are excited to expand our collaboration with CollPlant’s extraordinary technology to transform the tobacco plant – one that is so associated with devastating diseases – into a collagen-expressing plant that will be essential to the production of an unlimited number of transplantable organs,” added Rothblatt.
A brief history 3D bioprinted organs
Although researchers have consistently experimented with bioprinted tissues, mass production has so far proved elusive. Consequently, many additive organs have been created on a miniature scale, and the technology is still thought to be years away from fruition.
Researchers from theUniversity of Minnesota例如，已经开发了一种新颖的生物墨水，使它们能够3D打印miniature functional beating human heart。The team’s new cell-laden biomaterial allowed the team to produce an aortic replica with more chambers, ventricles and a higher cell wall thickness than was previously possible.
A team of researchers fromTsinghua大学有3D bioprinted brain-like tissue structures能够培育神经细胞。一旦整合到实验室大鼠中，器官部分就能形成一个复杂的神经回路，能够响应外部刺激。
Earlier this year, scientists from德州科技大学健康科学中心El Paso（ttuhsc el paso）和The University of Texas at El Paso(UTEP)3D printed artificial miniature hearts。心脏组织结构已发送到International Space Station(ISS) to gain an insight into how microgravity affects the function of the human heart
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Featured image shows a 3D printed lung scaffold, that was produced using CollPlant’s novel bio-ink. Photo via CollPlant.
