With BIOLIFE4D, a patient-specific, fully functioning heart would be created through 3D bioprinting and the patient’s own cells, eliminating the challenges of organ rejection and long donor waiting lists that plague existing organ transplant methods.
Operated by seasoned business leaders and guided by world-class biomedical engineers and life sciences experts, BIOLIFE4D is driving a movement to transform the treatment of heart disease, the leading cause of death among both men and women worldwide.
BIOLIFE4D is committed to perfecting the technology to make viable organ replacement a safe, accessible and affordable reality.
BIOLIFE4D’s groundbreaking approach will converge recent breakthroughs in regenerative medicine, stem cell biology, 3D printing techniques and computing technology that will make organ replacement commercially viable and commonplace globally.
Heart disease is by far the #1 killer globally, causing nearly one in every three deaths in every developed nation.
Casting the Future of Organ Transplants
Current human organ transplant capabilities – with their myriad challenges, high costs and other deficiencies – are ripe for the kind of innovation and process optimization that BIOLIFE4D looks to deliver. In addition to current immunotherapy drug complications and donor organ rejection risks, organ transplant surgery and the associated follow-up are also expensive, costing patients more than $300 billion in 2012. In the U.S. alone, more than 100,000 citizens are on a transplant waiting list, and many others need to be on the list but do not qualify due to disqualifying factors. In 2009, 25 people per day died while on the waiting list.
And even for those fortunate enough to receive a donor transplant, approximately 50% still die within ten years of the transplant. BIOLIFE4D’s proposed process specifically addresses these challenges.
Additional Opportunities for the Proposed BIOLIFE4D Process
In the U.S., pharmaceutical companies spend more than $50 billion each year on new drug discovery. But in 2016, only 22 new drugs were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This gap and other challenges could be addressed by leveraging the proposed BIOLIFE4D process which could:
- Stimulate pharmaceutical discovery and decrease related costs
- Boost pharmaceutical tool capabilities
- Improve drug efficacy and toxicity testing
- Streamline drug compound evaluation
- Provide an alternative to pharmaceutical and cosmetic testing on animals
