Federal agencies shift to phase out animal testing

By HPN Staff

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he wants to phase out animal testing as part of his larger Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda.

The secretary has directed the agencies under his department, including the National Institutes for Health (NIH) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to begin to “dramatically reduce” animal testing on chemical and pharmaceutical products for use in humans, and to replace it with higher-tech alternatives, including artificial intelligence and organoids developed from stem cells. 

A week before Kennedy’s directive, the NIH announced the award $87 million worth of contracts to establish a Standardized Organoid Modeling (SOM) Center at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research in Maryland, with the stated purpose of developing technologies to reduce the reliance on animal testing.

Why it matters

Animal testing has been used for decades as a safety precaution to help ensure that drugs and other products are safe before being tested on humans. 

Animal rights groups, however, have opposed the practice, claiming that it is cruel to the animals. Kennedy also believes that animal testing is slowing down FDA drug approvals, and that higher-tech, AI-based methods could speed up the testing process and reduce approval times. 

Some cite financial benefits to the adoption of new technologies to replace animal testing as well. A 2019 survey of pharmaceutical experts found that “organ-on-a-chip” technology could significantly reduce drug R&D costs.   

Kenedy’s announcement builds on previous efforts, both legislative and executive, to reduce reliance on animal testing. On Dec. 29, 2022, then-President Joe Biden signed the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 into law, a bi-partisan bill sponsored by Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY),  Cory Booker  (D-NJ) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), which eliminated a long-standing requirement that new drugs must first be tested on two species of animal — generally mice and a higher-order mammal such as primates or rabbits — before being undergoing human trials. The bill also authorized the use of alternatives to animal testing, “including cell-based assays and computer models.”

Earlier this year, the FDA announced that it was eliminating animal testing in the development of monoclonal antibody therapies.

The move by the HHS Secretary has created some unusual alliances, including praise from animal rights groups traditionally aligned with progressive Democrats — including the notorious People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which has developed a reputation for aggressive tactics in pursuit of an animal welfare agenda.  Dr. Emily Trunell, a PETA neuroscientist, told “USA Today”, “Make no mistake, (the NIH Standardized Organoid Modeling Center) will save countless animal lives while developing reproducible research methods that will lead to far quicker positive results for human patients in need."

On the other side of the political spectrum, the effort is also supported by MAGA-aligned groups such as the White Coat Waste Project. The group gained publicity for their staunch opposition to then-CDC director Anthony Fauci’s reported authorization of experiments on dogs during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

However, some public health and biomedical research groups are urging caution, warning that the technology is not mature enough to safely eliminate animal testing entirely. In a statement, the National Association for Biomedical Research (NABR) said that while the move “reflects a growing interest in emerging technologies…there is currently no full replacement for animal models in biomedical research and drug development.”  

Meanwhile, Americans for Medical Progress, a pro-research organization, said in a document commenting on an FDA-NIH Workshop on Reducing Animal Testing that “Premature policy shifts that deemphasize or exclude animal research without a firm scientific and regulatory foundation risk setting back biomedical innovation.”