Market Trends of Organ-on-chip Industry
Lung-related Application is Expected to Exhibit a Significant Growth Over the Forecast Period
The lung-on-chip technology is a complex, three-dimensional model of a living, breathing human lung on a microchip. This device, made up of human lung and blood vessel cells, can predict the absorption of airborne nanoparticles and mimic the inflammatory response triggered by microbial pathogens. The device can also be used to test the effects of environmental toxins, the absorption of aerosolized therapeutics, and the safety and efficacy of new drugs. With the combination of microfabrication techniques with modern tissue engineering, lung-on-chip also offers a new in-vitro approach to drug screening by mimicking the complicated mechanical and biochemical behaviors of a human lung.
The global COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, necessitates rapid advances in research and development activities for different approaches to treating the infection. For instance, in September 2022, an airway-on-a-chip that mimics respiratory organs was developed by the CiRA research team using vascular endothelial cells and airway epithelial cells. With the device, they found that SARS-CoV-2 disrupts the vascular endothelial barrier.
Furthermore, the development of new solutions to treat pulmonary diseases is of primary importance, as pulmonary diseases are found to be the most common conditions globally. According to the WHO, Global Tuberculosis Report 2022, it was estimated a global total of 10.6 million people fell ill with tuberculosis (TB) in 2021 which is equivalent to 134 cases per 100,000 population. The incidence rate of TB is also predicted to have grown by 3.6% between 2020 and 2021. Hence, the rise in the incidence of pulmonary diseases like tuberculosis increases the demand for the management of diseases using organ-on-chip technology thereby driving the growth of the market over the study period.
Hence, despite having already proven its worth, the lung-on-chip technology may also need to be engineered further, perhaps with muscle cells, to help test the effects of any treatment on the lungs, which may result in further growth of the market.
North America is Expected to Exhibit a Largest Market Share Over the Forecast Period
North America is anticipated to dominate the market over the period. The United States has the greatest market share in the North American area, because of rising R&D spending on drug discovery and biotechnology. It dominates the organ-on-chip market, owing to factors such as the availability of a wide range of services offered by major players which include customized designing of new chips with specific organ arrangements and an increase in toxicological testing of chemicals on the different types of organ cells. Huge investments are being made by public and private institutes for their research.
For instance, as per the NIH, the estimated research funding for biotechnology in the United States is USD 7,847 million in 2021, and USD 8,142 million in 2022. This shows a gradual increase in research funding for biotechnology that helps in the research using organ-on-chip and drives the market over the forecast period.
Furthermore, several initiatives in providing organ-on-chip services along with approvals and launches in North America help the market to grow. For instance, in May 2022, Nikon Instruments Inc, in the United States stated that it is going to start organ-on-a-chip imaging and analysis contract services in an optimum manner for research and development for drug discovery. Similarly, in March 2021, AIM Biotech launched a contract research service, which uses its organ-on-a-chip technology to accelerate and improve drug discovery and development. These services further increase the scope of organ-on-a-chip imaging thereby boosting the growth of the market.
Thus, all aforementioned factors are expected to have a significant impact on the growth of the market in this segment.
