Bioprinting is part of the future...or is it? As of 2015, bioprinting is becoming very much a part of the present. This issue is controversial, but holds much promise for the use on patients who desperately need organs to survive.
- Insufficient organ donation: This issue is a major concern for all of the individuals who are in need of an organ to save their lives. As of now, the number of people in need of donors are marginally higher than the numbers of registered donors. Bioprinting is a way to combat this issue, with organs that are able to be formed upon request in the near future. These organs will help the hundreds of thousands of people who need organs, and hopefully saving their lives.
- Lower risk of rejection: Bioprinting uses the patient’s own cells to create the organs, so the risk of the body rejecting its own cells are fairly low. This will lower the need for immunosuppressant drugs, which can cause unpleasant side effects like loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, increased hair growth, and hand trembling. In addition, the immune system is suppressed, and the risk of infection is much higher. With bioprinting, the risk of rejection is low, and there is less need for immunosuppressive drugs, which means there will not be the side effects of the immunosuppressant drugs.
- Lowers the amount or people who need to be operated on: With bioprinting, there will only be one individual that needs to be operated on, because you do not need to take an organ from another individual for the transplant. This lowers hospitalization, and does not put someone who was perfectly healthy through a dangerous procedure.
- Reduce organ trafficking: When people are in desperate need of something that is not available to them, they may resort to illegal behaviors. For organs, since there is not enough to go around, people buy organs in illegal ways. Bioprinting can solve this issue, making organs more readily available and allowing people to get them in ways that are not dangerous and illegal.
"Generally, the drug business can benefit significantly from these 3D tissues ... There's plenty of evidence that their processes are basically broken. They are inefficient and highly suspect," Renard said. "There's a big problem and they are looking for a better solution." Mike Renard, Organovo's Vice President
-- This quote explains how bioprinting can help solve the inefficient techniques that the drug businesses are using, explained by the Vice President of the major bioprinting company.