Emerging organ tech helps drug testing

Understanding the inner workings of the human body and its various complex organs is a continuing effort for scientists. Medical experts are deploying various types of emerging technologies to deepen their understanding of organs. 

Organ-on-a-chip (OOC) technologies have been allowing researchers to test the impact of chemicals on human tissue for specific objectives. Tissues placed on a chip can be made to mimic specific organs. These tissues are then subjected to various situations to test their reaction and response. 

A critical application of organ-on-a-chip is to test new medicines on the chip to reduce the dependence on animal testing. Organ-on-a-chip systems can be used to study many biomedical phenomena in drug development and toxicity testing as well as in personalised medicine (where stems cells derived from individual patients can be used to identify which therapies are likely to succeed), says a report by MarketsandMarkets. 

There are different types of OOC systems, including lung-on-a-chip, liver-on-a-chip, heart-on-a-chip, brain-on-a-chip, and gut-on-a-chip. Some systems have tried to mimic multiple organs within one chip. 

A recent study by the Vienna Technical University (VTU) has reported new breakthroughs. To create tissue at a micro level, researchers have to work with great precision. A scientist at VTU has begun using lasers to guide the tissue to interact in the desired manner. “Tissue parts are created, which then interact with each other. They are placed on a chip of a few centimeters in size and can be supplied with very specific nutrients or also with pharmaceutical compounds in a highly precise manner. In this way, one can gather important information about the effect of drugs without having to resort to animal testing,” the VTU study says. 

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is further boosting OOC systems to create new breakthroughs in drug discovery and testing. An AI company, Quris, has launched the first clinical prediction AI platform to predict which drug candidates will safely work in humans, dramatically improving efficacy and cutting drug development costs. The Tel Aviv-based company says that it uses AI-powered miniaturised “patients-on-a-chip” to avoid the risks and costs of failed clinical trials and eliminate the reliance on ineffective animal testing. 

“While AI applications in pharma have surged, a core piece needed to solve the drug discovery puzzle has been missing and most novel drugs still fail clinical trials — costing pharma companies more than $30 billion annually,” says Quris Chief Executive Officer Isaac Bentwich. “Quris is the first AI platform to predict which drug candidates will safely work in humans, filling a critical gap in clinical prediction.”

The market for OOC is growing rapidly, too. “When it comes to developing medications and vaccines in clinical trials, organ on chip technology is one of the most promising technologies. As a result, the importance of organ on chip technology has risen, propelling the market forward,” according to Market Data Forecast. “The global organ-on-chip market is expected to rise at a CAGR of 36.4 per cent from 2022 to 2027 and be worth $284.65 million by 2027 from $60.29 million in 2022.” 

The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), too, is encouraging the use of new technologies like OOC for drug discovery and testing. An ICMR paper says animal testing data does not always lead to successful clinical outcomes. This is visible in the failure rates of over 90 per cent between phase I clinical trials and approval of new drugs. The Indian pharmaceutical industry can leverage the new AI-powered OOC technologies to accelerate and improve its innovation processes.