Novel Organ-chip Platforms Likely to Transform the Drug Screening Process in the Pharmaceutical Industry
Organ-on-a-chip technology involves the incorporation of microphysiological systems harboring dynamic living 3D organoids, tissue-culture, or cell cultures on a microfluidic platform. The physiologically relevant Organ-chip models offer a better and more precise insight into the possible in vivo effects of drugs in the human body. The flexibility of Organ-on-a-chip is such that the innovation is not just human-relevant per se but can mimic a wide variety of human functions such as breathing, heartbeats, peristalsis, menstruation, neuronal communication.
Animal models and in vitro assays have served as the gold standard for pre-clinical research and study for a long time now. But for all the benefits, animal models and in vitro assays have seen poor results in human translation and prediction due to unsatisfactory human relevance. Organ-on-a-chip innovations are currently making themselves relevant by offering better data for human translation and prediction through their high degree of human-relevant systems.
The US are currently the frontrunners in the Organ-on-a-chip technology followed closely by Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Germany. The countries have been capitalized on the need for a better study model in drug screening application to pioneer the development of Organ-on-a-chip innovations which has seen relative success in the pharmaceutical industry as evidenced by the adoption of Organ-chip technology by major pharmaceutical companies such as Roche, AstraZeneca among many others.
