Vivodyne Named #1 in Fast Company’s Annual List of the World’s Most Innovative “Small but Mighty” Companies for 2022
Vivodyne is recognized for creating a scalable alternative for drug testing on animals.
Philadelphia (March 8, 2022) — Vivodyne has been named #1 in the list of Fast Company’s World’s Most Innovative “Small but Mighty” Companies for 2022.
This year’s list honors businesses that are making the biggest impact on their industries and culture as a whole — ultimately thriving in today’s ever-changing world. These companies are creating the future today with some of the most inspiring accomplishments of the 21st century.
“This past year was pivotal for Vivodyne’s goal to replace pharmaceutical animal testing with a far more ethical, scalable, and human-relevant solution,” says Vivodyne’s co-founding CEO, Dr. Andrei Georgescu. “We need something better than the current approach to drug testing, which kills hundreds of millions of animals each year in hopes that they’ll predict how safe and effective a new drug might be in people — which they nearly always fail to do.
“Creating a large-scale, end-to-end backbone for automated, animal-free medical experimentation is essential in the modern world, if we hope to improve the pace of fighting difficult diseases and address the rising costs of healthcare. A platform for medical research that can be decoupled from the ethical sacrifice, high cost, and logistical nightmare of animal testing is as revolutionary for human health as automation for modern manufacturing, or internet infrastructure for cloud computing.”
In the year since its founding, Vivodyne has been building this innovative backbone for medical research by creating an automated platform that cultivates living, highly realistic, lab-grown human organ tissues, and then tests new potential medicines on them by the thousands. But how are all these experiments used?
“The most important aspect — Vivodyne’s biggest innovation — is how these pieces all come together to produce huge quantities of predictive, preclinical human data that our AI and machine learning workflows can harness. We can use these outcomes to identify safe cures and treatments to diseases, and iterate to make them even better.”
“The key innovation at Vivodyne is not just our realistic lab-grown tissues, or the robotics, or the software that automates it all,” says Dr. Dan Huh, Vivodyne’s co-founding Chief Science Officer and Associate Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania. “The most important aspect — Vivodyne’s biggest innovation — is how these pieces all come together to produce huge quantities of predictive, preclinical human data that our AI and machine learning workflows can harness. We can use these outcomes to identify safe cures and treatments to diseases, and iterate to make them even better.”
Vivodyne’s platform also contributes to our world’s sustainability efforts. “Their pipeline uses 1,000 times less energy, needs 1,000 times less floorspace, and is over 1,000 times cheaper than facilities for animal testing,” adds its board member Alex Andrianopoulos, Chief R&D Officer of Kairos Ventures. “It also saves scientists’ mental health from the inhumane psychological burden of regularly euthanizing thousands of animals like mice, rabbits, dogs, pigs, and other primates.”
“We’re really proud to be recognized by Fast Company,” says Georgescu. “We have the pedal to the metal to replace the majority of the world’s animal testing in the coming years, and are excited that our goals resonate outwardly for their technological and ethical impact.”
Vivodyne is hiring field-leading scientists, hardware engineers, and software engineers as it grows to an even larger office and lab. Those with a history of exceptional achievement who want to join Vivodyne’s efforts are asked to send their resume and a half-page personal statement to careers@vivodyne.com.
The World’s Most Innovative Companies is Fast Company’s signature franchise and one of its most highly anticipated editorial efforts of the year. It provides both a snapshot and a road map for the future of innovation across the most dynamic sectors of the economy.
“The world’s most innovative companies play an essential role in addressing the most pressing issues facing society, whether they’re fighting climate change by spurring decarbonization efforts, ameliorating the strain on supply chains, or helping us reconnect with one another over shared passions,” said Fast CompanyDeputy Editor David Lidsky.
For the second year in a row, to coincide with the issue launch, Fast Company will host its Most Innovative Companies Summit on April 26–27. The virtual, multiday summit celebrates the Most Innovative Companies in business, and provides an early look at major business trends and an inside look at what it takes to innovate in 2022. Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies issue (March/April 2022) is available online here, as well as in-app form via iTunes, and on newsstands beginning March 15. The hashtag is #FCMostInnovative.
ABOUT VIVODYNE
Vivodyne is changing how scientists study human biology & develop therapeutics. Their platform technology creates a new preclinical drug development pipeline — Pipeline V — that starts and ends in lab-grown human tissues. The company was founded at the University of Pennsylvania by Bioengineering PhD Andrei Georgescu and Associate Professor of Bioengineering Dan Huh. For more information, visit https://vivodyne.com.
ABOUT FAST COMPANY
Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found online at www.fastcompany.com.
ABOUT KAIROS VENTURES
Kairos Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Los Angeles, CA that works closely with sixteen of the world’s leading universities and research institutions to identify and support the commercialization of transformative technologies. Kairos invests in patented scientific advances in life sciences and engineering that have the potential to deliver substantial impact for our world and remarkable returns for our Investors. For more information, visit https://www.kairosventures.com.
