Developing hyaluronic acid-based bioinks: an industrial approach

In recent years, 3D-bioprinting has played a major role in producing tissue-engineered scaffolds with controlled chemical and biological features. The current rate of progress and the exponential growth of the field are extremely encouraging, but are we ready for an effective clinical translation? Starting from the state of the art of photocrosslinkable bioinks based on hyaluronic acid (HA), this lesson is meant at giving an excursus on possible industrial approaches for the development of new bioinks, addressing technical requirements and issues, from conception to development. After a brief digression about the pathway for bioink CE registration as a medical device, we will move on to consider the new class of photocrosslinkable HA-bioinks developed at Fidia Farmaceutici S.p.A., based on an innovative photocrosslinking strategy that preserve native HA biocompatibility and reduce process cytotoxicity.