China sets ‘organ-chip’ standards for skin research as global biotech race heats up

China is aiming to take the global lead in a promising biotech area by setting its first national standards for “organ-on-a-chip technology”.

The chips are an emerging research tool that could replace animal testing and speed up the time a drug takes to get from concept to market.

“This milestone marks an important step forward for China in the field of organ-on-a-chip standardisation,” the Institute of Biomedical Devices in Suzhou said in an online statement on Thursday.

“It holds great significance for promoting the standardised and regulated development of scientific research and industrial applications in this field,” said the institute, which is affiliated with Southeast University in Nanjing, capital of eastern Jiangsu province.

The chips are devices about the size of a thumb drive, and are meant to mimic the function of human organs and predict human responses to drugs or various external stimuli. They are like integrated circuits but instead of conducting electricity, the small channels carry fluids containing human cells, creating a tool to minimise animal testing and human trials in the development of new drugs.