The 3D bioprinting company Organovo has announced today that the first 3D liver tissue has been delivered to a laboratory for experimentation.

According to 3Ders, the original goal set by Organovo was to have this 3D liver tissue produced by April, and with this announcement, it seems that they have come in ahead of schedule. According to Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Research for Organovo, the company hopes to have nearly 400 bioprinted 3D liver tissues by the end of January.

This is good news for Organovo’s investors. With this update in their schedule, Organovo hopes to generate revenue before the end of the year. Originally, their plan had been to launch by the end of 2014, but this development pushes them far ahead of schedule and has them working towards bigger goals – such as also generating revenue ahead of schedule.

As of now, the 3D printed liver tissue is not ready for human transplants, but the tissue will allow pharmaceutical companies to perform testing on potential drugs. Since the liver is the body’s main defense against toxins, these 3D printed liver tissues will be beneficial in testing future drugs, saving substantial amounts of funding.

The 3D printed tissues have so far been able to survive up to 40 days and respond to known liver toxicants – as one would expect from live liver tissues.

Organovo also hopes to release new information regarding 3D printed kidney tissue, and breast cancer tissue sometime in 2014.