Expanding Possibilities: Organ on a Chip Breakthrough and Emerging Market

Organ on a chip is an emerging technology that plays a pivotal role in drug discovery. The technology refers to the in vitro model of the physiological organ that is built on a microfluidic chip. It is a combination of engineering, cell biology, and biomaterial technology. Organ-on-a-chip technology creates a microenvironment that simulates human body organs in the context of mechanical stimulation and tissue interfaces. The microfluidic chip reflects the functional and structural characteristics of human tissues that depict responses to a wide range of environmental effects and drugs delivered on the chip.

Similar to digital twin technology, organ-on-a-chip technology serves as a model to study psychological reactions during drug development. The OOAC offers a wide range of applications in drug discovery, precision medicine, and the study of immunological responses. It is simple to use and offers real-time analysis—reduces the time of drug development, clinical trial, and market supply. The emerging technology serves as a substitute for traditional clinical cell culturing, the development of targeted drugs, and clinical trials. In the past few years, several pharmaceutical players have adopted this fast-evolving technology to reduce the time of drug discovery. It is useful in the study of cancer study, gene therapy, and drug development. With a vast number of applications of technology, it is anticipated that the organ on a chip marketwill grow at a CAGR of 21% in the future, according to Roots Analysis.

Organ on a Chip- The Modern Concept of Drug Discovery

Organ-on-a-chip refers to the microfluidic cell culture in vitro model consisting of perfused chambers seeded with human tissues and cells that simulate the organ and tissue level physiology. The model allows the study of drug efficacy, organ reaction, and potency of the drug. To date, several organs-on-a-chip models have been designed, including the liver on a chip and the heart on a chip.

Organ-On-A-Chip- The Current Market Landscape

At the clinical stage, human volunteers are required to study drug reactions, which may or may not give satisfactory results. In some cases, drug toxicity develops, which can be fatal for volunteers, ultimately leading to the failure of research. Thus, there is a requirement for human organ-like models that give accurate data. Organ on a chip emerges as a solution for pharmaceutical companies to use as a cell culture model resembling a human organ.

Organ on a chip becomes an advanced technology to study the drug development process. Due to its significance in the area of research, organ-on-a-chip companies have adopted it at a wider scale. It is cost-effective

▪         Researchers do not need to rely on animal models and human volunteers for the study of drug toxicity.

▪         It provides data in real time, which shortens the time of clinical trial processes.

▪         Enhances the drug approval processes.

The rapid increase in the demand for the devices also raises the market across the globe. It is worth noting that the global organ-on-a-chip market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 21%. The clinical evaluation has become easier with this in vitro model. The following are the reasons for wide-scale use of organs on a chip;

Emerging Trends that Support Organ-On-a-Chip Market Growth

Organ on a chip market is driven by emerging trends such as heart on a chip, liver on a chip, and multiple organ models that players presently offer. Notably, many organ-on-a-chip companies have significantly put efforts into developing organ-on-chip technologies by integrating artificial intelligence. The AI-driven tools allow early detection of toxicity risks and unknowing mutations—the real-time data helps accelerate the drug discovery process.

Liver on a Chip

The liver-on-a-chip refers to the 3D in-vitro hepatic microphysiological system that mimics conditions of the hepatic environment. The hepatic system is the prime site of toxin metabolism. Emulate has developed a human liver on a chip that enables researchers’ mechanism of toxicity, which has a higher fidelity rate and lowers the risk of diseases during drug discovery in volunteers. With the rising number of pharmaceutical partners utilizing liver-on-a-chip to increase R&D activity, the organ-on-a-chip market is expected to grow rapidly in the upcoming year.

Kidney On A Chip

The development of kidney toxicity can cause irreversible damage to renal filtration. Patients suffering from kidney toxicity need continuous drug screening systems to determine the functionality of the kidney. Microfluidics kidney on a chip mimics the design of a kidney by creating a microenvironment in vitro. It helps to study toxicity, diseases, and kidney function. The information collected from the kidney on a chip helps to facilitate the R&D process in pharmaceuticals, allowing the development of drugs efficiently.

Heart On a Chip

The emergence of the heart on a chip enables researchers to study cardiac tissue, the effect of drugs, and heart pumping. The microfluidic chip helps to test drugs and observe the reaction of drugs on the heart cells. A chip trend facilitates future drug discovery, allowing researchers to collect vital data in real-time.

It is worth noting that besides specific organic on a chip, scientists are now developing multi-organ on a chip that helps to understand drug effects on multiple organs with a higher accuracy rate—thereby shortening the process of drug development.

Subsequently, with the increasing demand for organ-on-a-chip in pharmaceutical companies, several industrial leaders have undergone partnerships to provide innovative solutions for the improvement of research processes. Example of such partnership includes:

• In June 2023, MatTek Life Science announced the strategic partnership with AIM Biotech to enable the availability of a portfolio of AIM Biotech for sale through MatTek.
• In December 2022, Tessara Therapeutics entered into a collaborative partnership with NETRI, a France-based organ-on-a-chip company, for the development of next-generation brain-on-a-chip technology for neurological disease research. Driven by the above listed emerging trends and factors, it is estimated that the market size of organ on-a-chip technology will grow steadily in the future.

Recent Organ-on-a-Chip Market News

Key organ-on-a-chip market players are continually evolving their products by upgrading technology. One such organ-on-a-chip company is Emulate, a United States-based organ-on-chip maker— In 2021, this company launched an intestinal organ-on-a-chip to research gastrointestinal diseases.

• In June 2023, Emulate launched Chip-A1™ to support research in the cosmetic and cancer industry.
• In May 2022, Emulate again upgraded its organ-on-a-chip technology to support the drug discovery for inflammatory bowel diseases.

Top Organ on a Chip Companies

Some other organ-on-a-chip market players who are developing advanced products to support research and drug discovery include

• Bianchi
• Dynamic42
• Mimetas
• SynVivo
• TissUse
• uFluidix.

Future of Organ on a Chip Technology

Overall, the organ-on-a-chip market has evolved gradually within the past few years. The technology has helped researchers to study an array of human organ’s physiological characteristics. However, the ultimate aim of using organ-on-chip technology is to integrate technology with multi-organ tissues-based chip models for research and therapeutic drug development purposes. In the future, automated control systems will be the epicenter of further research and development of organ-on-a-chip technology. As more and more organ-on-a-chip companies are getting funds and grants to support the technology trend in this market, it is expected that the industry is going to witness a surge in the marketplace in upcoming years.

About Roots Analysis

Roots Analysis is a global leader in the pharma/biotech market research. Having worked with over 750 clients worldwide, including Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, academia, venture capitalists, and strategic investors for more than a decade, we offer a highly analytical / data-driven perspective to a network of over 450,000 senior industry stakeholders looking for credible market insights. All reports provided by us are structured in a way that enables the reader to develop a thorough perspective on the given subject. Apart from writing reports on identified areas, we provide bespoke research/consulting services dedicated to serving our clients in the best possible way.