The current FDA and EPA are phasing out animal testing in their research facilities.
The Trump administration recently announced the phase-out of animal testing within programs at the FDA and EPA.
On Thursday, the FDA announced that the animal testing requirement for antibody therapies and other drugs will be phased out in favor of testing on materials that mimic human organs.
“For too long, drug manufacturers have performed additional animal testing of drugs that have data in broad human use internationally. This initiative marks a paradigm shift in drug evaluation and holds promise to accelerate cures and meaningful treatments for Americans while reducing animal use,” said FDA Commissioner Martin A. Makary in a recent comment.
He referenced the FDA’s future plans, saying, “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.”
Also on Thursday, the EPA announced that it would reinstate a 2019 policy from Trump’s first term in office to phase out animal testing at the agency.
In a comment, the EPA said that while the Biden administration moved away from phasing out animal testing, EPA chief Lee Zeldin is “wholly committed to getting the agency back on track to eliminating animal testing.”
EPA spokesperson Molly Vaseliou said in a recent interview, “Under President Trump’s first term, EPA signed a directive to prioritize efforts to reduce animal testing and committed to reducing testing on mammals by 30% by 2025 and to eliminate it completely by 2035. The Biden administration halted progress on these efforts by delaying compliance deadlines. Administrator Zeldin is wholly committed to getting the agency back on track to eliminating animal testing.”
Animal advocacy groups, including PETA, have expressed their support of this move by Trump’s administration.
“PETA applauds the FDA’s decision to stop harming animals and adopt human-relevant testing strategies for evaluating antibody therapies,” said Kathy Guillermo, PETA senior vice president.
The statement continued, saying, “It’s a significant step towards meeting the agency’s commitment to replace the use of animals – which PETA has worked hard to promote. All animal use, including failed vaccine and other testing on monkeys at federally-funded primate centers, must end, and we are calling on the FDA to further embrace 21st-century science.”
According to a recent news report, the primary animals used for testing ahead of the FDA’s announcement were dogs, rats, and fish.
Animal testing required for researching monoclonal antibody therapies, which are lab-made proteins meant to stimulate the immune system to fight diseases such as cancer, as well as other drugs, will be phased out.
According to the FDA’s press release, testing on “organoids” will be encouraged. “Organoids” are artificially-grown masses of cells.
The recent announcements by the FDA and the EPA also received praise from the White Coat Waste Project. Senior Vice President Justin Goodman said, “White Coat Waste made historic progress under Trump 45 to cut wasteful and cruel animal testing at the EPA and FDA, some of which was undone by the Biden Administration.”
He continued, “We applaud Administrator Zeldin and Commissioner Makary for picking up where Trump left off and prioritizing efforts to cut widely-opposed and wasteful animal tests. This is great news for taxpayers and pet owners as it sends a message to bid spending animal abusers across the federal government: Stop the money. Stop the madness!”
Some Republican lawmakers have also backed the administration’s decision to move away from animal testing by federal agencies.
Representative Ken Calvert, a Republican of California, issued a statement saying he is proud to stand with White Coat Waste to “bring back this commonsense Trump-era reform shut down by Biden’s EPA.”
Representative Paul Gosar of Wyoming, also a Republican, thanked Zeldin “for re-committing to President Trump’s historic plan to cut wasteful EPA spending on woke animal testing.”
