Recent progress in lab-on-a-chip for pharmaceutical analysis and pharmacological/toxicological test

As one of emerging applications of lab-on-a-chip, microfluidics contribution to pharmaceutical science has arose increasing attention. The demand of lab-on-a-chip technologies for pharmaceutical science led to the development of Pharm-Lab on a Chip, which represents chip-based platforms for whole chain of pharmacy applications from drug discovery to post marketing product management. Pharm-Lab on a Chip consist of all aspects of chip-based principles, techniques and devices for pharmaceutical analysis, pharmacological/toxicological test and pharmaceutical production. In this review, we focused on the recent advances in utilization of lab-on-a-chip for pharmaceutical analysis and test. The main contents including separation and analysis of drug molecules on a chip, construction of novel pharmacological/toxicological models on a chip, and the application of chip-based models for evaluating drug efficacy and safety. As a summary and prospect, we also try to give insight into the challenges and possible breakthrough of the development of Pharm-Lab on a Chip.