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Physicians Committee Experts Calls on NIH to Prioritize New Approach Methodologies in HIV/AIDS Research
This September, the Physicians Committee submitted a public comment to the AIDS Research Advisory Committee urging the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to invest more in human-based human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) research and to move away from animal experimentation.
New approach methodologies (NAMs) are scientific tools that use human cells, tissues, and data to model human biology more accurately than animal models. The NIH recently held a Mini-Symposium Series on NAMs for Preclinical HIV Research. During the first day of the mini-symposium, held on August 31, 2026, and broadcast to a global audience, NIH staff from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) reported that fewer than 10% of active grants incorporate at least one type of NAMs technique. This underscores the need for stronger incentives to incorporate human-based models into HIV research.
In other mini-symposium presentations, scientists presented research demonstrating how NAMs have advanced our understanding of HIV/AIDS. However, some presentations appeared to depart from the symposium’s stated focus on “advancing human-relevant NAM platforms for HIV research,” framing NAMs as tools to complement and support animal experimentation. Despite the acknowledged limitations of animal experiments, including the inability of monkeys to replicate human HIV infection, one presentation focused on integrating NAMs with monkey experiments.
The prominence of animal-based approaches and the perspective that NAMs are complementary rather than a replacement tool—during a mini-symposium dedicated to NAMs—underscores the persistent reliance of HIV/AIDS research on animal experimentation and highlights the need to further prioritize human-based, nonanimal methods in line with agency-wide efforts.
Given the limited adoption of NAMs in active HIV research grants and the significant emphasis on animal experimentation during the mini-symposium, Physicians Committee experts sought support from the AIDS Research Advisory Committee for the following NIH recommendations:
- Incentivize the use of human-based research methods for HIV/AIDS research through new research, training, and infrastructure funding opportunities that exclude animal-based methods, which already receive substantial investment.
- Make information about grants’ use of NAMs, animals (including species), and human subject approaches, including in HIV/AIDS research, publicly available.
- Promote culture change and further highlight the value of NAMs and other human-based methods for advancing HIV/AIDS research, including by prioritizing NAMs-specific education and training.
The Physicians Committee will continue advocating for policies that prioritize human-based research methods over animal experiments, accelerating the transition toward an animal-free research future and advancing research that better translates into effective HIV prevention and treatment for people.
