State of the art on alternative methods to animal testing from an industrial point of view: ready for regulation?

Authors Horst Fuchs, Erin Hill, Albrecht Poth, Rachel Ashton, Marianna Gaca, Erwin Roggen, Bart De Wever, Cyrille Krul
Published in ALTEX Online first
Publication date 2014
Research groups Innovative Testing in Life Sciences and Chemistry
Type Article

Summary

Despite changing attitudes towards animal testing and current legislation to protect experimental animals, the rate of animal experiments seems to have changed little in recent years. On May 15–16, 2013, the In Vitro Testing Industrial Platform (IVTIP) held an open meeting to discuss the state of the art in alternative methods, how companies have, can, and will need to adapt and what drives and hinders regulatory acceptance and use. Several key messages arose from the meeting. First, industry and regulatory bodies should not wait for complete suites of alternative tests to become available, but should begin working with methods available right now (e.g., mining of existing animal data to direct future studies, implementation of alternative tests wherever scientifically valid rather than continuing to rely on animal tests) in non-animal and animal integrated strategies to reduce the numbers of animals tested. Sharing of information (communication), harmonization and standardization (coordination), commitment and collaboration are all required to improve the quality and speed of validation, acceptance, and implementation of tests. Finally, we consider how alternative methods can be used in research and development before formal implementation in regulations. Here we present the conclusions on what can be done already and suggest some solutions and strategies for the future.

On this publication contributed

  • Cyrille Krul
    Cyrille Krul
    • Professor
    • Research group: Innovative Testing in Life Sciences and Chemistry

Language English
Published in ALTEX Online first
Page range 1-9

Innovative Testing in Life Sciences and Chemistry