It’s time to replace animal testing with a more modern, reliable alternative

Animal testing is fraught with problems

This has nothing to do with protecting bunnies or other critters. It’s just that animal research doesn’t do what it’s supposed to.

In vivo testing became the standard in medical research after Congress passed the 1938 Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act, which requires that every drug be tested on animals to ensure its safety. The original intent was good: Congress was reacting to the deaths of more than 100 people who were poisoned by an unsafe medicine, elixir sulfanilamide, in 1937. Though promoted as an antibiotic, the medicine was made using diethylene glycol, a toxic solvent similar to antifreeze.

Since then, animal models have been relied on to prevent toxic compounds from reaching patients. But growing evidence suggests the models are flawed and misclassify too many toxic compounds as safe. Now we know that 90% of drugs found to be effective in animals fail clinical trials.. 

It’s time to find an alternative for what was state-of-the-art science in 1938.

The most promising solution is organ-on-a-chip technology, which can potentially speed drug development and improve patient safety. This technology can better forecast safety and efficacy of a drug much more quickly than existing animal models. Plus, it makes truly personalized medicine possible. Doctors can literally determine how a specific patient will react to a specific medication.

Organ-chips mimic human physiology. They are designed to control cell microenvironments and maintain tissue-specific functions. They have gained interest as a next-generation experimental platform to investigate human pathophysiology and the effect of therapeutics in the body. Because they emulate specific tissues, the effects of a specific therapeutic compound can be determined quickly.

This can significantly reduce the time and cost involved in developing a new drug, from the 10 years and $2.6 billion it takes to get a drug from discovery to the marketplace today.

The FDA is evaluating this new testing technology, which it recognizes to have the potential to help scientists gain a better understanding of the effects of medicines, disease-causing bacteria in foods, chemicals, and other potentially harmful materials on the human body.

The challenge is that many different organizations – academics, start-ups and established companies -- are taking different approaches to the technology. What’s needed most are standards that everyone can embrace to ensure that the chips work in predictable ways and that the technology evolves in ways that will offer optimal results for the developers of new drugs.

The sooner standards are embraced, the quicker we can start reaping the benefits of this breakthrough technology.