New paper urges caution as FDA plans to phase out animal testing in drug development
FDA’s animal testing phaseout needs caution, experts say: Biomedical research with animals remains essential for preclinical safety testing, and rapidly replacing animal studies with unvalidated alternatives could increase the risk of unsafe or ineffective drugs reaching patients, legal expert Sara Gerke and colleagues wrote in Trends in Biotechnology. The Authors recommend maintaining animal testing alongside alternatives until enough data proves equivalence, and they propose measures like premarket reviews or independent certification to ensure the safety and efficacy of new methods.