SAN DIEGO, Sept. 30, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Organovo Holdings, Inc. (NYSE MKT: ONVO) (“Organovo”), a three-dimensional biology company focused on delivering breakthrough 3D bioprinting technology, announced today that its exVive3D Human Liver Model has been selected as a finalist in the Diagnostics & Research Tools category for the 2014 Most Innovative New Product Awards, sponsored by CONNECT. CONNECT, a regional program that catalyzes the creation of innovative technology and life sciences products in San Diego County, continues its twenty-seven year tradition of honoring San Diego’s leaders of innovation and groundbreaking new products with the annual award.

Organovo’s exVive3D Liver bioprinted human tissue models are living, functional 3D human liver tissue constructs consisting of primary human hepatocytes, stellate, and endothelial cell types which are found in native human liver. The exVive3D Livers are created using Organovo’s proprietary 3D bioprinting technology that results in functional living tissues containing precise and reproducible architecture. The tissues can remain fully functional and stable for at least 40 days. This model will initially be made available through Organovo’s contract research testing to improve the predictive value for liver tissue specific toxicity or ADMET marker assessment in later stage preclinical drug discovery programs.

“For 27 years, CONNECT has been hosting the Most Innovative Products (MIP) awards and each year the entrants just keep getting better this is one of the most competitive fields we’ve seen for MIP yet,” said Greg McKee, CEO of CONNECT. “Annually, through the MIP awards CONNECT proudly presents to the community the innovations and ground-breaking products being developed in San Diego.”

For the complete list of winners and other information please visit the Most Innovative New Product Awards website.

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. The company plans to market its first product of a planned portfolio offering, a 3D Human Liver Tissue for use in Toxicology and other preclinical drug testing prior to the end of 2014, and remains on track to bring this breakthrough technology to customers. In addition to numerous scientific publications, the Company’s 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

About CONNECT
CONNECT is a regional program that catalyzes the creation of innovative technology and life sciences products in San Diego County by creating an environment in which inventors and entrepreneurs have access to the resources they need for success. Since 1985, CONNECT has assisted in the formation and development of more than 3,000 companies and is now widely regarded as one of the world’s most successful organizations linking inventors and entrepreneurs with the resources they need for commercialization of innovative products. As a result, the program has been modeled in more than 50 regions around the world most recently in New York City, Bogotá, Colombia and Saudi Arabia. To learn more about CONNECT, please visit www.connect.org or call 858.964.1300.

SOURCE Organovo Holdings, Inc.