Bio3D wants to print body parts and make prescription drugs cheaper and better
Mingwei Fan, co-founder of Bio3D Technologies, took the stage to pitch at this year’s Startup Arena competition. The startup is creating a bio 3D printer that Fan believes could drastically reduce costs in medical trials, leading to better drugs created at a faster clip and more cheaply.
Fan’s bio 3D printer is a Frankensteinian cross between an industrial-quality 3D printer and precision lab equipment. The company’s first commercial product, it prints cells, other bio materials, and even plastic, arranging them at the micron level — out of reach for even the most nimble hands.
Fan is a bio nerd. In particular, he’s fascinated by the micro living organisms called cells that combine to form even more intricate living things. Referring to them as if they were human beings (“They eat and shit in the petri-dish at the same time”, he told Tech in Asia in a one-to-one interview), he explained how their sociable nature is key to understanding the potential impact of bio 3D printers.
Cells need to be aligned in a certain way to in order for them to interact with one another. Once they are aligned, we can let nature take its course.
Such exact arrangements by artificial means is unprecedented, until the arrival of bio 3D printers.
Fixing drug research, one cell at a time
Fan went on a lengthy explanation of the broken drug research process and how it is due for a shake-up by bio 3D printing.
A typical research project can take anywhere between eight to 20 years, and it involves a tedious chain of events starting with chemical tests, then moving on to cellular, animal, and finally clinical trials involving people.
If the pursuit fails at any point of time, it’s basically goodbye to the billions of dollars and years of sweat that scientists have been pouring into the lab.
What makes the tests so cumbersome is that they often involve thousands of chemicals, and each one would need to be tested individually at different concentrations, dosage levels, and forms.
The animal testing stage is particularly gruesome and costly. Drugs could be injected into a baboon’s liver, for example, to test the effects of a chemical. If the baboon shows no ill effects, it is euthanized in the name of science and the liver extracted for study.
A bio 3D printer can dramatically save time and costs by reducing reliance on traditional cellular and animal testing.
By laying out cells in three-dimensions as opposed to a 2D plane, which is the current practice, it mimics the human body more accurately, thereby potentially yielding more accurate results. One compound can be applied to multiple cells, drastically simplifying the process.
Bio 3D printers could eventually print entire organs, which means that instead of injecting compounds into animals, they can be applied to printed organs without the need to dissect critters.
A potential “killer app” would be to create a credit card sized microcosm of the human body containing a garden of cells that are linked on a cellular level. A chemical could then be injected into the kit to test its effects on various types of cells.
Business model
Bio3D’s first commercial model can blood vessel cells, but it will be years before it can print full organs and really disrupt an industry. The printer sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars a pop and includes after-sales service.
Fan hopes to shift five units next year, and the company is already in sales talks with potential customers. Research institutions, universities, and drug companies are some organizations that would be interested in the printer.
Besides selling these jet-black devices, Fan hopes to eventually manufacture ready-to-use human tissues in bulk and sell them to research bodies who don’t want the hassle of growing the organisms themselves. Fan’s startup is currently bootstrapping. The founders are not paying themselves yet, but they’d welcome a fundraising round.
The judges were concerned about how Bio3D can distinguish itself from competitors and win the market. Jimmy Rim of K-Cube Ventures asked whether 3D printing companies can easily replicate the technology. Fan responded by saying that printing living cells is vastly different from laying down plastic. The precision needed to print cells is also on a much more different scale.
Saemin Ahn of Rakuten Ventures asked about what the intellectual property is, and Fan clarified that their pending patent applies to the accurate construction of human cells using a combination of hardware and software. The process can also be extended to applications outside biology.
Khailee Ng, meanwhile, was concerned about how Bio3D can win the market against more well-funded competitors. Fan noted that the company’s business model is uniquely focused on building custom solutions for the researchers. And unlike its American and German competitors, which focuses on cells and human organs, Bio3D can print other biomaterials as well, allowing labs to study the interaction between bacteria and human cells.
This is a part of our coverage of Startup Asia Jakarta 2013, our event running on November 21 and 22. For the rest of our Startup Arena pitches, see here. You can follow along on Twitter at @TechinAsia, and on our Facebook page.
(Editing by Josh Horwitz)
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