Bpifrance Demonstration of the Value of Organoids and Organs-on-a-Chip

Grants to fund research which validates the value of organoids and OOCs in various high-potential application areas, as a complement to or replacement for animal models during preclinical phases.

Created in 2013, Bpifrance is a French public investment bank that assists French companies by offering financing solutions to support their projects (creation, development through innovation, expanding into new markets in France or abroad, equity investment, takeover or external growth, etc).

Bpifrance’s new call for projects, ‘Demonstration of the Value of Organoids and Organs-on-a-Chip’ aims to finance value demonstrators (proofs of concept) which will validate, through translational, comparative and usable data, the value of organoids and organs-on-a-chip (OOCs) in various high-potential application areas, as a complement to or replacement for animal models during preclinical phases and also in the field of precision medicine.

Each project must develop or utilise a relevant in vitro organ model (organoid or OOC) or pathophysiological model, based on reproducible biological and technological standards. The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and a mastery of the model’s characteristics are expected. Several use cases are considered, although they are not exhaustive:

• Modeling a pathology profile, particularly rare diseases.
• Modeling a physiological profile of vulnerable populations (such as the elderly, pediatrics, pregnant women).
• Prediction of the bioavailability of drug candidates.
• Prediction of drug candidate elimination (renal, biliary, metabolic clearance).
• Prediction of hepatotoxicity, cardiotoxicity, neurotoxicity, or nephrotoxicity.
• Evaluation of membrane permeability (in particular, intestinal or blood-brain barrier/skin function).
• Any test that can replace a regulatory test performed on an animal.
• Comparison to robust statistical tests and/or animal, human and OOC responses.

The developments specifically targeted by this call for projects reach a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of at least 6 to 7, where applicable.