CN Bio, a leading provider of organ-on-a-chip (OOC) systems, has established a strategic partnership with Pharmaron, a China-based R&D service provider for the life sciences industry. Announced on April 24, 2025, the collaboration aims to validate CN Bio's PhysioMimix technology across existing applications and integrate OOC technologies into Pharmaron's R&D platform.
The partnership comes at a pivotal time as regulatory bodies, including the FDA, are moving toward reducing animal testing requirements in favor of more human-relevant models. Earlier in April, the FDA announced plans to phase out animal testing requirements for monoclonal antibodies and other drugs.
Partnership Objectives and Implementation
In the initial phase of the collaboration, the companies will focus on validating CN Bio's PhysioMimix technology in current applications of disease modeling, toxicity testing, and absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) studies. Upon successful validation, Pharmaron will install PhysioMimix instruments at its global facilities to enable joint development of cutting-edge OOC solutions.
"Pharmaron is the ideal partner for CN Bio as we look to accelerate the growth of our OOC solutions portfolio in new and existing application areas," said Paul Brooks, PhD, CEO of CN Bio. "By working closely together and leveraging the expertise of each company, we can share resources that enable us to progress new, innovative solutions from concept to global market deployment more effectively than ever before."
As a global drug R&D service platform, Pharmaron specializes in providing end-to-end services across drug discovery, preclinical, and clinical development. This partnership will allow both companies to co-develop novel applications to expand the capabilities of OOC technologies.
Addressing Regulatory Changes and Market Needs
Tomasz Kostrzewski, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer at CN Bio, emphasized the timeliness of this development: "The developments this partnership will enable are especially important given the recent FDA announcement, outlining their plan to phase out animal testing requirement for monoclonal antibodies and other drugs with more human-relevant models. Our platform is best placed to serve current market gaps including testing for immune-mediated organ damage."
Hua Yang, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer at Pharmaron, added, "Organ-on-a-chip technology holds significant potential to advance translational science by improving our understanding of drugability at the preclinical stage. We are pleased to collaborate with CN Bio to explore how this technology can add meaningful value to our partners' development programs."
Expanding Global Reach
The Pharmaron partnership is part of CN Bio's broader international expansion strategy. The company recently announced a strategic partnership with SCINCO, a specialist scientific instrument company based in South Korea, further amplifying CN Bio's presence in major Asian and Pacific markets.
This expansion comes as CN Bio establishes regional supply networks through specialist distribution partners to address growing demand for its FDA-recognized PhysioMimix OOC System. The company has also appointed Primetech as its Japanese distributor, complementing its wider network in the APAC region.
The Growing OOC Market
Organ-on-a-chip technology, which consists of engineered or natural tissues grown inside microfluidic chips, allows tissues to maintain specific functions. Today's OOCs encompass an array of tissue and organ functionalities, including the blood-brain barrier, central nervous system, heart, intestine, liver, lung, kidney, muscle, and skin.
This technology enables pharmaceutical companies to better understand disease pathophysiology and determine drug effects in vitro. Market research predicts that the global OOC market will grow from $82 million in 2023 to $388 million by 2028, exhibiting a compound average growth rate of 36.4%.
As pharmaceutical and biotech companies increasingly recognize the potential of non-animal, new approach methodologies (NAMs) to improve preclinical efficacy and safety data generation, CN Bio's PhysioMimix OOC system is positioned to play a crucial role in reducing failure rates of new drug candidates and accelerating drug development timelines.
"Recent regulatory updates from the FDA are fueling a rapidly growing, global interest in human-relevant alternatives in drug development," noted Dr. Brooks. "We are progressing an ambitious growth strategy to respond to market demand and put in place essential sales and support channels to ensure we remain ahead of the curve in addressing customers' research needs."
