Organ-On-Chip (OOC) Global Market Opportunities and Strategies to 2030: COVID-19 Impact and Recovery

Executive Summary

This report describes and evaluates the global organ-on-chip (OOC) market. It covers two five-year periods, 2015 to 2020, termed the historic period, and 2020 through to 2025, the forecast period.

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 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 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.

The OOC market is segmented by organ type into multi-organs-on-chip, lung-on-chip, heart-on-chip, liver-on-chip, intestine-on-chip, kidney-on-chip, skin-on-chip, blood-brain-barrier-on-chip, and 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.

The OOC market is also segmented by application into toxicology research, drug discovery, molecular biology, disease modelling, food safety, and 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.

The OOC market is also segmented by end-users into biopharmaceutical companies, academics, food & beverages and 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.

The OOC market is also segmented by product & services into device and 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.
The OOC market is also segmented by type of material into polymer, PDMS, glass, and silicon. The polymer segment was the largest segment of OOC market by type, accounting for 57.1% of the total in 2020. Going forward, the silicon segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment at a CAGR of 89.9% during 2020-2025.

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.

The global OOC market is relatively concentrated with small number of players. The market is attractive to new market entrants who are able to see a clear route into the market which is not dominated by controlling companies; this is especially true of this market which is run by university off-spins and smaller research labs. The top ten competitors in the market made up to 82.83% of the total market in 2020. Major players in the market include Emulate Inc., AxoSim Inc., Mimetas BV, TissUse GmbH, Nortis Inc., and Kirkstall.

The COVID-19 virus disrupted the supply chain operations of various medical devices manufacturing industries, but it has positively impacted the organ-on-chip market due increased need for coronavirus vaccine drug trial worldwide and increased need of research and development activities for more vaccines and thus organ-on-chip. The organ-on-chip market had seen increased demand with its potential to meet the appropriate R&D standards and providing more efficient results.

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.

Market-trend-based strategies for the OOC market include advancing OOC technology to secure partnerships with government bodies and pharmaceutical companies, approaching space agencies to promote the use of OOCs in the research focused on human physiology and disease onboard space stations, investing in research and development to automate monitoring of OOCs’ physiological responses to drugs, producing OOCs through 3D printing technology to quickly fabricate and customize OOCs, integrating artificial intelligence with organs-on-chip, investing in the production of humans-on-chips to assess drug effects on all organs of the body, integrating various technology on the same chip, investing in the development of custom organs-on-chips to meet needs of end-users, manufacturers are developing disease-specific models as well as organ models to expedite drug testing, raising funds to expand their product portfolio and globalize commercially, and entering into strategic collaborations and partnerships with pharmaceutical companies to improve drug discovery and predict the effects of their medicines in humans. Player-adopted strategies in the OOC industry include researching and developing its organ-on-chips products to be used for the study of different cancers, providing broad neuroscience models to support their biopharmaceutical partners, and expanding their product portfolios through strategic collaborations.

To take advantage of the opportunities, the publisher 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.

Companies Mentioned

• Emulate Inc.
• Mimetas BV
• AxoSim Inc.
• Nortis Inc.
• TissUse GmbH

Methodology