In the US, new drugs no longer need to be tested on animals to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – for Europe, the agency responsible for drugs, EMA, is yet to see the time for such a step. The EMA has informed the dpa in Amsterdam that animal testing cannot yet be completely dispensed with.
New alternative methods that can be used need to be tested to ensure they are reliable. Last year, the EMA created a working group to accelerate this process.
Organoids as an alternative
The United States recently removed the requirement that all drugs be tested on animals before being tried on humans. US President Joe Biden signed a corresponding law in December, which does not prohibit animal testing in drug development, but also no longer requires them. Instead, in the future, means such as human mini-organs (organoids), multi-organ chips or computer-based processes may be used. Animal protection organizations welcomed the law.
On average, more than 90% of drug candidates that successfully pass all animal tests would be further classified during human clinical trials, according to a reaction from Doctors Against Animal Experiments. The reasons are usually the lack of effect or significant side effects. Certain non-animal methods have already proven to be more accurate and reliable than animal testing.