L'Oréal signs agreement for 3D skin printing

By

Sarah Ahssen

Published
May 26, 2015

L'Oréal’s US subsidiary of L'Oréal has reached an agreement with Organovo, a company specialized in bioprinting technology that makes it possible to 3D print living tissue. Through the partnership, the global beauty giant will accelerate the production of human tissue in order to test new products.

"Our partnership will not only bring about new advanced in vitro methods for evaluating product safety and performance, but the potential for where this new field of technology and research can take us is boundless," explained Guive Balooch, vice president of L'Oréal technology incubator. 

Until now, L'Oréal has produced human tissue reconstructed from skin fragments recovered during plastic surgery undertaken at its Lyon, France center, Episkin. Although it’s a long process, bio-printing eliminates the need for animal testing. Since September 2014, L'Oréal has been authorized to sell its Episkin skin model in China.