EURL ECVAM has launched a series of studies to review available and emerging non-animal models being used for research in seven disease areas:

• respiratory tract diseases
• breast cancer
• neurodegenerative disorders
• immuno-oncology
• immunogenicity testing for advanced medicinal therapy products
• cardiovascular diseases
• autoimmune diseases

Aim

The aim is to identify and describe specific research contexts where animal models have been put aside in favour of novel non-animal techniques that use, for example, in vitro methods based on human cells and engineered tissues or in silico approaches employing computer modelling and simulation.

Transition towards non-animal approaches

The expectation is that by understanding and sharing information on successful use-cases of alternative models in biomedical research, the transition towards non-animal approaches can be better facilitated and potentially accelerated.

Tackling human diseases

Encouraging the uptake of alternative methods is important to tackle such considerable reliance on animal experiments for carrying out research.

Moreover, since alternative methods offer the promise of recapitulating human physiology more effectively than many animal models, shifting to new animal-free methodologies and research strategies can in fact enhance the understanding of human-specific biology and disease.