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REVIEW ARTICLE

3D Bioprinting: The Roller Coaster Ride to

Commercialization

Anton Elemoso *, Grigoriy Shalunov *, Yakov M. Balakhovsky , Alexander Yu. Ostrovskiy ,
1
2
2,3
1
Yusef D. Khesuani 1,2
1 Laboratory of Biotechnical Research 3D Bioprinting Solutions, Moscow, Russian Federation
2 Vivax Bio, LLC, New York, NY, USA
3 Independent Laboratory IN VITRO, Moscow, Russian Federation

Аbstract: Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting as a technology is being researched and applied since 2003. It is actually several
technologies (inkjet, extrusion, laser, magnetic bioprinting, etc.) under an umbrella term “3D bioprinting.” The versatility of this
technology allows widespread applications in several; however, after almost 20 years of research, there is still a limited number
of cases of commercialized applications. This article discusses the potential for 3D bioprinting in regenerative medicine, drug
discovery, and food industry, as well as the existing cases of companies that create commercialized products and services in the
aforementioned areas and even in fashion, including their go-to-market route and financing received. We also address the main
barriers to creating practical applications of 3D bioprinting within each sphere the technology that is being studied for.

Keywords: 3D bioprinting, Commercialization, Regenerative medicine, Drug discovery, Food

*Corresponding Authors: Anton Elemoso, Laboratory of Biotechnical Research 3D Bioprinting Solutions, Moscow, Russian Federation;
Anton.elemoso@gmail.com/Grigoriy Shalunov, Laboratory of Biotechnical Research 3D Bioprinting Solutions, Moscow, Russian Federation;
gregshalunov@bioprinting.ru
Received: June 10, 2020; Accepted: June 23, 2020; Published Online: July 30, 2020

(This article belongs to the Special Section: Bioprinting in Russia)
Citation: Elemoso A, Shalunov G, Balakhovsky YM, et al., 2020, 3D Bioprinting: The Roller Coaster Ride to
Commercialization. Int J Bioprint, 6(3): 301. DOI: 10.18063/ijb.v6i3.301.

1 From 3D printing to 3D bioprinting sintering; selective laser melting; and direct
metal laser sintering. Boland has suggested the
Three-dimensional (3D) printing is the technology bioprinting method based on traditional two-
of fast prototyping and additive manufacturing used dimensional (2D) inkjet technology in 2003 . In
[2]
to create the complex architecture of high accuracy the same year, Mironov et al. have proposed the
through stage process of product construction method of extrusion 3D bioprinting with the use
according to the specified digital mode . Hull has of tissue spheroids as “building blocks” .
[1]
[3]
received the patent for photopolymerization-based The implementation of an automated additive
stereolithography (SLA) technology in 1986. process eases the fabrication of 3D products
This work was the first in the area of 3D printing on the basis of high-precision control of their
techniques. Nowadays, several technologies are architecture, external shape, inner geometry
united by the term “3D printing:” Fused deposition of pores, and the correlation between high
modeling; SLA, digital light processing; ColorJet reproducibility and repeatability [4-6] . Due to these
printing; multiple jet modeling; selective laser features, 3D bioprinting technology appears

© 2020 Elemoso, et al. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original work is properly cited.
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