SAN DIEGO, March 26, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Organovo Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ONVO) (“Organovo”) today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Samsara Sciences, Inc. (“Samsara”), a provider of highly specialized human liver cells, entered a non-exclusive global supply agreement with Lonza Bioscience Solutions (“Lonza”). Under the terms of the agreement, Lonza will market human cell products from Samsara for further distribution to its customers.
“We’re incredibly pleased to begin this partnership with Lonza, which allows us to tap into their outstanding global sales and marketing capabilities and expand the reach of our human cell products,” said Dr. Sharon Presnell, president, Samsara and chief scientific officer, Organovo. “This agreement, which represents Samsara’s single largest contract to date, continues to establish Samsara as an emerging leader in the production and delivery of specialty human liver cells for use by biopharma clients in their research programs. Samsara has more than doubled its sales over the last year, and we expect that growing demand for our library of well-characterized healthy and disease-origin cells will continue to provide attractive revenue opportunities for our business.”
“Organovo’s mission to revolutionize how new therapies are discovered, tested and ultimately delivered to patients begins with high-quality donor cells that are both the building blocks of our complex 3D tissues, and are also foundational elements in our client’s research programs,” said Taylor J. Crouch, CEO, Organovo. “We’re seeing great commercial traction from this segment of our business, and believe it will become a bigger contributor to our revenue mix as we look ahead to fiscal 2019. We expect the Lonza agreement will accelerate the commercial penetration of our cell products in the global biopharma, academic and research markets. In addition to boosting our top-line growth, Samsara’s leading cell products also continue to support our own R&D mission, including our liver tissue disease modeling platforms for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (“NASH”) and fibrosis, as well as our NovoTissuesTM IND-track liver therapeutic program for the treatment of alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.”
About Organovo Holdings, Inc.
Organovo is developing and commercializing a platform technology to produce and study living tissues that emulate key aspects of human biology and disease for use in drug discovery, clinical development, and therapeutic applications. The Company develops tissue systems through internal research programs and in collaboration with pharmaceutical, academic and other partners. Organovo's living tissues have the potential to transform the drug discovery process, enabling treatments to be developed more effectively and with greater relevance to performance in human trials and commercialization. The Company’s ExViveTM Liver and Kidney Tissues are used in disease modeling for NASH and fibrosis, high-value drug profiling, target and marker discovery/validation, and other drug testing. The Company is also advancing a preclinical program to develop its NovoTissues® liver therapeutic tissues for critical unmet medical needs, including certain life-threatening pediatric diseases. The Company has received orphan designation for its potential treatment of alpha-1-antityrpsin deficiency, its lead indication within the category of inborn errors of metabolism. Organovo is changing the shape of life science research and transforming medical care. Learn more at www.organovo.com.
About Samsara Sciences, Inc.
Samsara is dedicated to the provision of high-quality primary human liver and kidney cells for use in pharmaceutical and academic research focused on human health and disease. Samsara is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Organovo Holdings, Inc. Learn more at www.samsarasciences.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Any statements contained in this press release that do not describe historical facts constitute forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on current expectations, but are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the potential for one or more customer’s electing to move toward framework agreements involving annual budgets, revenue commitments, and/or dedicated research plans, the expected costs, timing and operational benefits of the Company’s restructuring plan, the financial impact of the Company’s restructuring plan on its future operating costs and financial results, and statements regarding the potential benefits and therapeutic uses of the Company’s therapeutic liver tissue. The factors that could cause the Company's actual future results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's ability to develop, market and sell products and services based on its technology; the expected benefits and efficacy of the Company's products, services and technology; the Company’s ability to successfully complete studies and provide the technical information required to support market acceptance of its products, services and technology, on a timely basis or at all; the Company's business, research, product development, regulatory approval, marketing and distribution plans and strategies, including its use of third party distributors; the Company’s ability to recognize deferred revenue; the final results of the Company's preclinical studies may be different from the Company's studies or interim preclinical data results and may not support further clinical development of its therapeutic tissues; the Company may not successfully complete the required preclinical and clinical trials required to obtain regulatory approval for its therapeutic tissues on a timely basis or at all; and the Company’s ability to meet its fiscal year 2018 outlook. These and other factors are identified and described in more detail in the Company's filings with the SEC, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on June 7, 2017. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date that they were made. These cautionary statements should be considered with any written or oral forward-looking statements that the Company may issue in the future. Except as required by applicable law, including the securities laws of the United States, the Company does not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements to conform these statements to reflect actual results, later events or circumstances or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.