SAN DIEGO, Jan. 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Organovo Holdings, Inc. (OTCQX: ONVO) ("Organovo"), a creator and manufacturer of functional, three-dimensional human tissues for medical research and therapeutic applications, and the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), a national leader in translational oncology research, have formed a collaboration to develop more clinically predictive in vitro three dimensional cancer models which will ultimately advance discovery of novel cancer therapeutics. New biological models that more accurately replicate human cancer and malignant disease are desperately needed to enhance our understanding of how cancer develops and migrates and to deliver better oncology therapies for patients.

"The OHSU Knight Cancer Institute is consistently on the leading edge of cancer research, delivering true therapeutic breakthroughs like Gleevec," said Keith Murphy, chairman and chief executive officer at Organovo. "The knowledge and experience of the team at OHSU will be critical as we work together to create advanced models of cancer and metastasis that more reliably predict the safety and effectiveness of new therapeutics."

Today, animal models and cancer cell lines are used to identify and test potential drug candidates, but these tools have known limitations in their ability to predict clinical outcomes. More accurate and representative human disease models have the potential to improve drug discovery and development for a number of diseases, including cancer. By applying breakthrough bioprinting technology, Organovo develops three-dimensional, architecturally correct, human disease models to improve the understanding of drug toxicity and efficacy earlier in the drug development process, enabling safer, more effective therapies.

"A major challenge in oncology research today is that animal models cannot accurately represent human physiology, and cell lines do not provide information on how cells act in a three-dimensional, native architecture," said renowned cancer researcher Joe W. Gray, Ph.D., director of the OHSU Center for Spatial Systems Biomedicine (OCSSB), Gordon Moore chair of Biomedical Engineering in the OHSU School of Medicine and associate director for translational research for the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute. "Using Organovo's bioprinting technologies, we plan to create new models to understand cancer disease mechanisms and metastatic progression, which can be used to discover and test new targeted therapies." 

OHSU Knight Cancer Institute Director Brian Druker, M.D., added, "Better research models lead to a deeper understanding of disease mechanisms and more accurate information in the preclinical drug discovery and development process.

We believe new technologies, like bioprinting, are important for producing more relevant models of cancer and metastasis to ultimately support the discovery of new therapeutics."

About the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute
The Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Science University is a pioneer in personalized cancer medicine. The institute's director, Brian Druker, M.D., helped prove it was possible to shut down cells that enable cancer to grow without harming healthy ones. This breakthrough has helped make once-fatal forms of the disease manageable and ushered in a new generation of targeted cancer therapies. The OHSU Knight Cancer Institute is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center between Sacramento and Seattle—an honor earned only by the nation's top cancer centers. It offers the latest treatments and technologies as well as hundreds of research studies and clinical trials. For more information, visit www.ohsu.edu/knight-cancer-institute

About Organovo Holdings, Inc.
Organovo designs and creates functional, three-dimensional human tissues for medical research and therapeutic applications. The company is collaborating with pharmaceutical and academic partners to develop human biological disease models in three dimensions. These 3D human tissues have the potential to accelerate the drug discovery process, enabling treatments to be developed faster and at lower cost. In addition to numerous scientific publications, their technology has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, The Economist, and numerous others. Organovo is changing the shape of medical research and practice. Learn more at www.organovo.com.

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Any statements contained in this press release that do not describe historical facts may 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. The factors that could cause 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 based on its technology; the expected benefits and efficacy of the Company's products and technology; the availability of substantial additional funding for the Company to continue its operations and to conduct research and development, clinical studies and future product commercialization; and the Company's business, research, product development, regulatory approval, marketing and distribution plans and strategies. These and other factors are identified and described in more detail in our filings with the SEC, including our current report on Form 8-K/A filed on May 11, 2012. We do not undertake to update these forward-looking statements made by us.

SOURCE Organovo Holdings, Inc.