Organs-on-chips: Developments In The Testing Of Human Organs-On-Chips

Human organs-on-chips (OOCs) are miniaturized versions of lungs, livers, kidneys, heart, brain, intestines and other vital human organs embedded in a chip. With advances in OOC technology, drug regulatory bodies have started testing OOCs for their reliability and their use as an alternative to animal testing. For instance, in April 2017, the US FDA announced an agreement with Emulate Inc., a USA-based biotechnology company, to evaluate the company’s human organ-on-chip technology in laboratories. The OOC technology offers a less time-consuming and cost-effective way to test drugs, foods, cosmetics and dietary supplements for efficacy and toxicity. Emulate Inc. was founded by researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, and is the first commercial organ-on-chip venture. Companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Merck have also partnered with Emulate to test and develop applications for its human OOC technology.

The organ-on-chip market consists of sales of organs-on-chips by entities (organizations, sole traders and partnerships) that manufacture organs-on-chips used for drug development, toxicity testing, and personalized medicine research. Organs-on-chips (OOCs) are small plastic devices with biocompatible microfluidic chambers containing multiple live human cells in a 3D culture that simulate key physiological functions of body organs. Organs-on-chips that mimic the organ level physiology of humans are a promising alternative to animal models.

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Adoption Of OOC Technology By Major Pharmaceutical Companies – OOCs are now being explored worldwide as tools for developing disease models and accurately predicting drug efficacies and toxicities. Many companies and universities have been continuously looking for new and better models for drug development. The advantages of OOCs over cell culture, animal models, and human clinical trials have captured the attention of the medical and pharmaceutical communities focusing on developing targeted therapies.

Surge in Applications of Organ-on-chip Devices in the Healthcare Sector

Surge in demand for organ-on-chip devices in the healthcare industry is expected to boost the growth of the global market. Organ-on-chip devices are applicable in real-time imaging, in-vitro analysis of biochemical, and genetic & metabolic activities of living cells in a functional tissue, which significantly fuel their adoption.

Increase in Demand for Organ-on-chip in Drug Screening

Drug screening is a cost-effective method used for rapidly reviewing samples. Scientists and researchers use organ-on-chip culture devices to monitor the effects of drugs in the body. Furthermore, drug toxicity or drug effectiveness in various organs of the body is checked using this technique, which boosts the market growth.

Rise in Demand for Lung- & Kidney-based Organ Culture Devices

Shortage of donor lungs for transplantation has led to significant number of patient deaths. Thus, rise in demand to develop laboratory-engineered, functional organs is anticipated to supplement the growth of the market. Recellularized solid organs can perform organ-specific functions for short span of time, which indicates the potential for clinical use of engineered solid organs in the future.

Source: The Insight Partners