3D bioprinting company BICO announced that it has reached an initial $1.5 million contract manufacturing agreement with Nanochon, a regenerative joint replacement startup.
Nanochon will purchase US$1.5 million worth of products and services from BICO’s Scienion to develop its 3D printed regenerative joint implants, which the startup claims will provide patients with faster recovery while reducing medical service providers the cost of.
"Nanochon's regenerative joint replacement method has the potential to improve the lives of tens of millions of people every year," said Erik Gatenholm, CEO and co-founder of BICO. "We are excited to use BICO's bio-automated manufacturing and technology expertise to help bring this product to millions of patients around the world."
BICO has an increasing share of the 3D bioprinting market
Through its CELLINK and other subsidiaries, BICO offers a comprehensive portfolio of extrusion-based bioprinters, light-based bioprinters, and tissue-specific bioinks, which can be found in more than 2,000 laboratories worldwide, including Stanford University , Harvard University and Johnson & Johnson.
In addition to the August rebranding, BICO has also acquired a number of 3D printing businesses in the past year or so in an attempt to expand its market share in the bioprinting market. In August 2020, the company acquired SCIENION, a precision dispensing 3D printing company, at a price of 80 million euros, which enabled BICO to incorporate SCIENION's pico and nanoliter cell dispensing capabilities into its product line.
Recently, BICO also acquired in vitro technology expert MatTek Corporation for US$68 million to advance its research on animal cruelty-free cell test models, and Nanoscribe, a two-photon polymerization (2PP) 3D printer manufacturer, to create more realistic soft tissues.
In October, BICO obtained two new temperature-sensitive bio-ink 3D bioprinting patents, which are said to accelerate the development of applications such as drug development based on 3D cells.
According to BICO, more than 7 million joint replacement surgeries are performed in the United States each year. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the United States estimates that by 2027, the annual health care expenditures of aging Americans will reach 6 trillion U.S. dollars, most of which will come from aging-related diseases, such as osteoporosis that requires joint replacement surgery disease.
Usually, due to the lack of organic cartilage growth, coupled with the high invasiveness of the operation, current joint replacement often only lasts 15-20 years.
Nanochon is seeking to improve these results through its new recycling technology based on 3D printing. This method replaces current invasive replacement surgery with minimally invasive surgery, in which a 3D printed structure made of polymer nanomaterials is implanted into damaged cartilage to promote healthy cartilage growth.
The company said its technology will provide patients with a faster and more successful recovery rate, while also reducing the cost of treatment for healthcare providers and patients.
As part of the transaction between BICO and Nanochon, SCIENION will act as a contract manufacturer of Nanochon cartilage surface graft implants, leveraging multiple key technologies in the BICO product portfolio. In the next ten years, SCIENION will become Nanochon's main manufacturing partner.
Ben Holmes, CEO and co-founder of Nanochon, said: "It is very exciting to receive strategic support from the BICO Group. "We have a clear vision to use our technology to help patients with joint diseases. This partnership will greatly accelerate Nanochon enters the clinic and the market. "
In addition to the manufacturing partnership reached between the two companies, BICO also invested $400,000 in Nanochon's seed round financing to advance its regenerative medicine technology. Therefore, this technology will become a key part of the next-generation core industrial ecosystem under BICO tissue engineering.
Nanochon will use the funds to help expand its manufacturing process and accelerate the progress of its clinical trials.
Additive manufacturing technologies, materials and applications in regenerative medicine are receiving more and more attention and development. In the past year alone, many advances have been made in the fields of 3D printed implants and tissue engineering.
For example, companies such as Osteopore and Maastricht University Medical Center have developed bioabsorbable bone implants that have the potential to prevent leg amputations, and the University of Basel has developed a new type of 3D printed implant for the treatment of eye sockets Fractures can reduce the risk of rejection by patients.
Elsewhere, 3D printed spinal implants using Farsoon’s SLM technology have obtained a landmark license from China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), and Danish medical device manufacturer Particle3D has obtained a Chinese patent for a new type of bio-ink. Biological ink can achieve full 3D printing. Absorbable porous bone implants.
Just last week, Health Canada approved its first Canadian-made 3D printed medical implant, a customizable mandibular (mandibular) bone plate for facial reconstruction surgery.
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The featured image shows Nanochon's 3D printed cartilage implants. Photo from Nanochon.
Hayley is a 3DPI technical reporter with a background in B2B publications covering manufacturing, tools, and bicycles. She writes news and features, and has a keen interest in emerging technologies that affect the world in which we live.
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