- New company will leverage 3D Systems’ recent breakthroughs in bioprinting of vascularized human organs and tissues to accelerate new drug development, reduce costs, and ultimately reduce or eliminate the need for animal testing
- Unique bioprinted organ-on-a-chip platform, h-VIOS™, created using hydrogels to produce complex vasculature that supports extended life in healthy or diseased human cells for use in drug studies
- 3D Systems to provide $15 million in seed funding to demonstrate efficacy of technology and business model, with targeted revenues of Systemic Bio approaching $100 million annually within five years
- Taci Pereira named Chief Executive Officer of Systemic Bio, bringing deep expertise in bioengineering and bioprinting
ROCK HILL, S.C., Sept. 08, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) announced the formation of a new, wholly owned company called Systemic Bio™, a biotech company focused on the application of advanced bioprinting technologies to pharmaceutical drug discovery and development. Systemic Bio will leverage 3D Systems’ breakthrough, production-level bioprinting technology to create extremely precise vascularized organ models using biomaterials and human cells. These proprietary organs-on-chips can be manufactured reproducibly in large quantities, and then perfused with any desired drug compound to study drug metabolism and the effects on healthy or diseased tissue at the earliest stages of new pharmaceutical drug development. The ability to accurately simulate human response to an experimental drug in the laboratory, early in the development process, offers the potential to significantly reduce both the high costs and extended times required for pharmaceutical companies to bring a new drug to market. In addition, this approach could eventually reduce or even eliminate the need for animal testing as a precursor to full-scale human trials for new drug development.
Systemic Bio’s efforts will be supported by an initial $15 million seed investment from 3D Systems, which, given the maturity of the underlying materials and process technology, is envisioned to support them through the start-up phase, bridging them to a material revenue level and profitability. Systemic Bio intends to open an exciting new growth market for 3D Systems in the pharmaceutical arena, creating a biotech revenue stream for the company that could approach $100 million annually over the next five years.
3D Systems is a recognized leader in the use of bioprinting to accelerate innovation in regenerative medicine for both human organ and non-organ applications. In June 2022, United Therapeutics Corporation (NASDAQ:UTHR) announced that, in partnership with 3D Systems, it had successfully produced the world’s most complex 3D-printed object – a human lung scaffold. Systemic Bio will leverage its innovative bioprinting solutions in combination with 3D Systems’ Print to Perfusion™ process to bioprint highly complex, custom-designed, vascularized tissues for its proprietary organ-on-a-chip platform, called h-VIOS™.
The h-VIOS (human vascularized integrated organ systems) organ-on-a-chip platform comprises plates of cellularized or acellular vascularized three-dimensional scaffolds, and accompanying accessories needed for drug testing. Unlike other currently available models which are created from synthetic materials such as silicone, h-VIOS uses hydrogels that much more closely resemble human tissues. The combination of these hydrogels with 3D Systems’ Print to Perfusion process for cellularization, enables 3D printing of high-resolution scaffolds that very closely mimic human tissues. A critical differentiator of this technology over competing historical tissue engineering approaches is the precision of the printing process with these unique hydrogel materials. These bioprinted scaffolds can be seeded with human cells from different organs, including both healthy and diseased, creating tissues to screen drug candidates for safety and efficacy. This human-based, physiologically relevant platform has the potential to change the way new drug therapies are developed.
Systemic Bio produces these customized chips on its bioprinters at its facility in Houston, Texas. These bioprinters are capable of at least 10x greater build volume and up to 10X higher resolution than other available platforms which enables efficient, production-grade manufacturing. Systemic Bio is now working to establish multi-phase partnerships with pharmaceutical companies that could lead to the discovery of promising new drugs. Beyond providing organ-on-a-chip test samples, pharmaceutical companies may also seek to retain Systemic Bio to provide contract research services in addition to procuring custom-designed h-VIOS to perform their own research and testing.
To lead the new company, 3D Systems has named Taci Pereira as Systemic Bio’s Chief Executive Officer. Ms. Pereira joined 3D Systems in May 2021 from Allevi, where she was Chief Scientific Officer. Since that time, she has served as Vice President and General Manager, Bioprinting, leading the development and commercialization of research tools for 3D bioprinting applications. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering from Harvard University, where she worked at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. Ms. Pereira’s research at the Mooney Laboratory for Cell and Tissue Engineering (Wyss) focused on biomaterials for cancer immunotherapy, under the advisory of David Mooney, Ph.D.
“As the leader of our Allevi business, Taci brought a unique blend of business acumen and bioprinting expertise that has enabled our continued growth in laboratory solutions,” said Menno Ellis, executive vice president, healthcare solutions, 3D Systems. “Her knowledge, passion, and demonstrated leadership position Taci very well for her new role as CEO of Systemic Bio. I’m confident that the solutions her team delivers can have a transformative impact in the field of pharmaceutical drug discovery and contribute meaningfully to the exciting growth we have envisioned for our healthcare business.”
Dr. Jeffrey Graves, president and CEO of 3D Systems added, “I am pleased and inspired by the progress we continue to make in the emerging field of regenerative medicine. The complexity and precision that we have now demonstrated using biocompatible materials and our most advanced production bioprinting platform technology is truly groundbreaking, opening a host of new applications ranging from the laboratory to replacement organs within the human body. In forming Systemic Bio we are applying these core technologies to specifically address critical needs within the pharmaceutical market. With our potential to ultimately manufacture hundreds or even thousands of custom-designed, proprietary human tissue models, pharmaceutical companies can more rapidly and accurately evaluate the efficacy of developmental drugs in the laboratory, with the goal of reducing development time and eventually eliminating the need for animal testing. By leveraging the progress we have made on our core bioprinting technologies, we are now in a unique position to create this new business — bringing added value to our shareholders, our employees, and, most importantly, to those in need of new, advanced drug therapies to extend, or improve the quality of their lives.”
Systemic Bio is currently offering its h-VIOS platform to select initial partners. Companies that are interested in becoming a Systemic Bio partner can visit the website for more information.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements made in this release that are not statements of historical or current facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from historical results or from any future results or projections expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In many cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terms such as "believes," "belief," "expects," "may," "will," "estimates," "intends," "anticipates" or "plans" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are based upon management’s beliefs, assumptions, and current expectations and may include comments as to the company’s beliefs and expectations as to future events and trends affecting its business and are necessarily subject to uncertainties, many of which are outside the control of the company. The factors described under the headings "Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" in the company’s periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as other factors, could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected or predicted in forward-looking statements. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not, and should not be relied upon as a guarantee of future performance or results, nor will they necessarily prove to be accurate indications of the times at which such performance or results will be achieved. The forward-looking statements included are made only as of the date of the statement. 3D Systems undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements made by management or on its behalf, whether as a result of future developments, subsequent events or circumstances or otherwise, except as required by law.
About 3D Systems
More than 35 years ago, 3D Systems brought the innovation of 3D printing to the manufacturing industry. Today, as the leading additive manufacturing solutions partner, we bring innovation, performance, and reliability to every interaction - empowering our customers to create products and business models never before possible. Thanks to our unique offering of hardware, software, materials, and services, each application-specific solution is powered by the expertise of our application engineers who collaborate with customers to transform how they deliver their products and services. 3D Systems’ solutions address a variety of advanced applications in healthcare and industrial markets such as medical and dental, aerospace & defense, automotive, and durable goods. More information on the company is available at www.3dsystems.com.
Investor Contact: investor.relations@3dsystems.com
Media Contact: press@3dsystems.com
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