Health Agencies Ramp Up Push for Alternatives to Animal Testing

‘This draft guidance advances our commitment to replace animal testing with human-relevant, scientifically rigorous methods,’ the U.S. health secretary said.

A laboratory mouse as it looks over the gloved hand of a technician at the Jackson Laboratory, in Bar Harbor, Maine, on Jan. 24, 2006. Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo

Federal regulators on March 18 issued draft guidance to help manufacturers use alternatives to animal testing during drug development, while the National Institutes of Health (NIH) pledged to invest $150 million in research methods that reduce the use of animals.

The Food and Drug Administration’s draft guidance says in part that new approaches, such as using organoids—replica organs typically created with stem cells—and computer simulations can be used for preclinical toxicology and safety testing.