Organ On Chip Definition

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.

The design and development of an OOC is made possible by using the relevant novel techniques from cell biology, microfabrication, microfluidics, material science and nanotechnology. The specific chip design varies based on manufacturing techniques and the organ it simulates, although the basic structure usually remains the same.

Organ On Chip Size

The global OOC market reached a value of nearly $50.8 million in 2020, having increased at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 59.5% since 2015. The market is expected to grow from $50.8 million in 2020 to $177.8 million in 2025 at a rate of 28.5%. The organ-on-chip market is then expected to grow at a CAGR of 14.6% from 2025 and reach $350.8 million in 2030.

Growth in the historic period resulted from increased demand for personalized medicine, the growing need to minimize financial losses due to late-stage drug failure, and substantial funding of public and private sources for OOC start-ups and research groups. Factors that negatively affected growth in the historic period were the high costs associated with OOCs, the limitations of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), the most commonly used substrate material for the fabrication of OOCs and lack of skilled resources for the development of the OOC technology.

Going forward, the adoption of OOC technology by major pharmaceutical companies such as Roche and AstraZeneca among many others, increasing drug repurposing approaches in the OOC industry, and rising healthcare expenditure will drive growth in the forecast period. Factors that could hinder the growth of the OOC market in the future include compatibility problems that may occur due to the lack of standardization, OOCs are not high throughput to conduct multiple assays, cell survivability issues, the COVID-19 pandemic, and resistance in the adoption and regulation of new medical options can negatively impact the market growth.

Organ On Chip Drivers

The key drivers of the organ on chip market include:

Increasing Demand For Personalized Medicine

Personalized medicine is an evolving field that allows physicians to develop a targeted treatment for their patients, i.e., to choose the best possible drug at the right dose based on the needs of an individual patient. It holds a great promise for improving patient’s health outcomes, especially in the areas where a detailed understanding of each person’s phenotype and disease profile is important. Personalized medicine has a strong impact on the healthcare industry leading to the increasing for personalized medicine worldwide, especially in cancer treatments. Under controlled and dynamic microenvironment conditions, the microfluidic systems with integrated stem cells exhibit functions that emulate individual organ-level physiology. These personalized models help predict patient-specific toxicity and efficacy. In the future, by focusing on early disease detection with the support of personalized medicine, patients will be matched with the most suitable treatments that will work for them. For instance, in 2021, InSphero AG and ETH Bio Engineering Laboratory had announced a licensing agreement for InSphero's Akura Flow organ-on-a-chip platform. Also, Researchers at the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) and Chemical Biological Center (CBC) used Emulat's lung on chip technology for research on COVID-19.

Organ On Chip Restraints

The key restraints on the organ on chip market include:

High-Costs Associated With OOCs

OOCs are considered to be more relevant and accurate than animal models or cell cultures in drug discovery and development. However, the cost of these chips and redesigning steps to suit mass production are high.  High production costs are restraining the OOC market growth as expensive redesigning process might be a burden for the relatively small companies involved. Furthermore, the conceptual designing of bioreactors, pumps for perfusion of cell culture medium, maintenance of cell environment, mechanical stimuli, and implementing cell analysis methods are all complex and require additional costs. The cost incurred in the production upscaling might also reflect on the price of the chip making it unaffordable for pharmaceutical companies. Creating an OOC is also not a simple process and the challenges that need to overcome in the process include reproducing the architectural complexity of the human tissues and organs on a device in a miniaturized fashion, and linking and arranging them in the right format for the interconnected systems to recapitulate the human tissue/organ interactions.  Additionally, most companies in the pharmaceuticals industry will have to switch from polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) prototyping and small-series to large-scale production in other materials (glass, polymer injection moulding) that will increase the expenditure and is likely to slow down the growth of OOC companies.

Organ On Chip Trends

The key trends influencing in organ on chip include:

Big data For Organs-On-Chips

Organs-on-chips manufacturing companies are increasingly adopting big data to deal with the data generated through OOCs. Data generated from OOCs can rise to several challenges, including sharing, integrating and analyzing the data. In order to effectively use the generated data, implementation of big data algorithms on modern high performance computing systems is pivotal. For instance, Netri, a France based company offering organs-on-chip for the industry, have developed algorithms to extract most of functional network markers OOCs (connectivity map between chambers, weight of connections, small worldness of the network) that are compatible with MEA (Micro Electrode Arrays) devices from main suppliers. These MEA are the standard technology used to detect electrophysiological signals. Continuous recordings provide data to investigate a compound’s impact on functional activity and network dynamics.

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 February 2018, Roche teamed up with Emulate, a USA-based biotechnology company, to expand their organ-on-chip testing technology. Roche plans on using Emulates Human Emulation system to better predict the safety and efficacy of its drug candidates. This partnership allows the Swiss pharmaceutical company access to Emulates OOC for discovery and development of new classes of therapeutics antibodies and drug combinations. Also, in April 2017, the US FDA announced an agreement with Emulate Inc., 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.

Opportunities And Recommendations In The Organ On Chip

Opportunities –

The top opportunities in the OOC market segmented by organ type will arise in the Heart-on-chip segment, which will gain $20.1 million of global annual sales by 2025.The top opportunities in the OOC market segmented by application will arise in the Toxicology Research segment, which will gain $39.8 million of global annual sales by 2025. The top opportunities in the OOC market segmented by end-users will arise in the Biopharmaceutical companies’ segment, which will gain $73.0 million of global annual sales by 2025. The top opportunities in the OOC market segmented by products & services will arise in the Testing segment, which will gain $66.3 million of global annual sales by 2025. The top opportunities in the OOC market segmented by type of material will arise in the Polymer segment, which will gain $371.7 kilo units of global annual sales by 2025. The OOC market size will gain the most in the North America at $64.7 million.

Recommendations-To take advantage of the opportunities, The Business Research Company recommends that OOC companies consider developing human-on-chip models that will reduce the need of animal testing, focus on R&D to develop disease models for liver, lungs, hearts, and other organs, focus on pricing based on economies, use Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) advertising, and collaborate with pharmaceutical companies.

Organ On Chip Segmentation

Organ on chip market is segmented by organ, by application, by end user, by products & services, type of material, and by geography.
By Organ –
The organ on chip market is segmented by organ into

• a) Lung-On-Chip
• b) Heart-On-Chip
• c) Liver-On-Chip
• d) Intestine-On-Chip
• e) Kidney-On-Chip
• f) Skin-On-Chip
• g) Blood-Brain-Barrier-On-Chip
• h) Other Organ Models

The other organ model segment was the largest segment of the OOC market segment by organ, accounting for 14.6% of the total in 2020. Going forward, the heart-on-chip segment is expected to be the fastest-growing segment at a CAGR of 32.6% during 2020-2025.
By Application –
The OOC market is segmented by application into

• a) Toxicology Research
• b) Drug Discovery
• c) Molecular Biology
• d) Disease Modelling
• e) Food Safety
• f) Other Applications

The toxicology research segment was the largest segment of the OOC market by application, accounting for 30.4% of the total in 2020. Going forward, the drug discovery segment is expected to be the fastest-growing segment at a CAGR of 30.2% during 2020-2025.
By End User –
The OOC market is segmented by end user into

• a) Biopharmaceutical companies
• b) Academics
• c) Food & Beverages
• d) Other Commercial Industries

The biopharmaceutical companies’ segment was the largest segment of the OOC market by end-users, accounting for 54.4% of the total in 2020. Going forward, the biopharmaceutical companies is expected to be the fastest-growing segment at a CAGR of 29.5% during 2020-2025.
By Products & Services –
The OOC market is segmented by products & services into

• a) Devices
• b) Testing Services

The testing segment was the largest segment of the OOC market by product & services, accounting for 57.6% of the total in 2020. Going forward, the device segment is expected to be the fastest-growing segment at a CAGR of 30.7% during 2020-2025.
By Type of Material –
The OOC market is segmented by type of material into

• a) Polymer
• b) PDMS
• c) Glass
• d) Silicon

By Geography –
The OOC market is segmented by geography into

o Asia
o North America
o Europe

North America was the largest market for OOC, accounting for 55.7% of the global market in 2020. It was followed by Europe, Asia and then rest of the world. Going forward, Asia and Rest of the world will be the fastest growing regions in the OOC market, where growth will be at CAGRs of 34.1% and 33.0% respectively during 2020-2025. These will be followed by Europe and North America where the markets are expected to grow at CAGRs of 28.5% and 26.9% respectively.

Organ On Chip Competitive Landscape

Major Competitors In The Organ On Chip Market Are:

Emulate Inc.

Mimetas BV

AxoSim Inc.

Nortis Inc.

TissUse GmbH

Other Competitors In The Organ On Chip Market Include:

Micronit

BEOnChip

CN Bio Innovations

Mesobiotech

InSphero AG