Elsevier

Drug Discovery Today

Volume 24, Issue 9, September 2019, Pages 1720-1724
Drug Discovery Today

Feature
Impact of organ-on-a-chip technology on pharmaceutical R&D costs

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drudis.2019.06.003Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • The costs of R&D are crucial in the debate on high drug prices.

  • An emergent technology that could transform R&D efficiency is organ-on-a-chip.

  • Experts estimate the potential of organ-on-a-chip to reduce R&D costs by 10–26%.

  • Improvements in success rates are expected to drive savings.

  • Most impacted are the lead optimization and preclinical phases of R&D.

Healthcare systems are faced with the challenge of providing innovative treatments, while shouldering high drug costs that pharmaceutical companies justify by the high costs of R&D. An emergent technology that could transform R&D efficiency is organ-on-a-chip. The technology bridges the gap between preclinical testing and human trials through better predictive models, significantly impacting R&D costs. Here, we present an expert survey on the future role of organ-on-a-chip in drug discovery and its potential quantitative impact. We find that the technology has the potential to reduce R&D costs significantly, driven by changes in direct costs, success rates and the length of the R&D process. Finally, we discuss regulatory challenges to efficiency improvements.

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