Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine Applauds NIH’s Investment in Animal-Free Research, Says It Will Help the Agency Meet Animal Reduction Goals

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Please see the following statement from Catharine E. Krebs, PhD, medical research program manager for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, regarding today’s announcement by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that it is investing $150 million in human-based research to reduce the use of animals:

“NIH’s investment is an important step in getting human-based, nonanimal research methods into the hands of more scientists and will help the agency meet its animal reduction goals. The establishment of five new technology development centers will stimulate the development of nonanimal new approach methodologies (NAMs) in research areas of greatest need, like neuroscience, which still relies heavily on animals, despite failure after failure of preclinical animal experiments to translate to meaningful clinical benefit for neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases. NAMs are revolutionary technologies, bringing us closer to a reality where animal experimentation is phased out, which 85% of Americans agree should happen. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has been working toward this reality for decades, and we are eager to see how the focus on nonanimal, human-based research technologies will make a meaningful impact for the hundreds of millions of animals used each year in US labs. Now it’s time for the NIH to take direct action for animals, like converting the National Primate Research Centers to sanctuaries and ending support for dog experiments.”