Organs-on-chips (OoCs), also known as microphysiological systems (MPS) or “tissue chips”, are microfluidic devices containing living cells and aiming at recapitulating various functions of organs. OoCs enable a precise control of the cellular microenvironment to recreate tissue specific functions, whether they be healthy or modelling a pathology. By using human cells, OoCs mimic various key aspects of human physiology, and thus are considered as an upcoming alternative method to animal testing as well as the potential future gold standard to investigate human pathophysiology and future therapeutics. Convinced by their potential benefits, the FDA is now inviting drug developers to include non-animal methods, and especially OoCs, in clinical trial authorization submissions. Some governments are even starting to remove the historical legislative roadblocks, such as the USA with the signature of the Modernization Act 2.0 in 2022.

In this rapidly evolving context, NETRI’s OoCs are tools for drug developers to de-risk their preclinical and clinical investments and provide critical elements to improve their narrative when submitting for clinical trial authorization.