Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made an announcement that has animal rights activists cheering. According to a release from the FDA, animal testing is being phased out. In the release, the FDA said:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is taking a groundbreaking step to advance public health by replacing animal testing in the development of monoclonal antibody therapies and other drugs with more effective, human-relevant methods. The new approach is designed to improve drug safety and accelerate the evaluation process, while reducing animal experimentation, lowering research and development (R&D) costs, and ultimately, drug prices.

The FDA’s animal testing requirement will be reduced or possibly replaced with AI-based computational models of toxicity and cell lines and organoid toxicity testing in a laboratory setting. FDA Commissioner Martin A. Makary, M.D., M.P.H.  said:

“By leveraging AI-based computational modeling, human organ model-based lab testing, and real-world human data, we can get safer treatments to patients faster and more reliably, while also reducing R&D costs and drug prices. It is a win-win for public health and ethics.”

Kathy Guillermo, PETA senior vice president, said:

PETA applauds the FDA’s decision to stop harming animals and adopt human-relevant testing strategies for evaluating antibody therapies.

Unnecessary, painful and cruel animal experiments have caused emotional distress to animal lovers for decades. While some testing may have been deemed necessary, other animal experiments seem to be nothing more than outright cruelty – the FDA’s recent announcement is an excellent step in the right direction.

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