The UK government has unveiled detailed plans outlining how it intends to honour its manifesto commitment to work towards phasing out animal testing. This marks the first time the government has publicly laid out a concrete roadmap to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of animals in scientific experiments, particularly those related to safety testing and medical research.
Central to the government’s new strategy is the aim to replace animal testing for some major safety assessments by the end of this year. Additionally, the government has set a target to reduce the use of dogs and non-human primates in tests for human medicines by at least 35% by 2030. These ambitious goals reflect a growing recognition of the ethical, scientific, and technological challenges associated with animal experimentation, as well as a commitment to advancing alternative methods.
Science Minister Lord Vallance, speaking to BBC News, expressed optimism about the future of science without animal testing. He conveyed a vision where animal use in scientific research could be "almost completely phased out" but was careful to temper expectations, acknowledging that such a transition would not happen overnight. “I think that is possible, it’s not possible anytime soon,” he said. “Can we get very close to it? I think we can. Can we push faster than we have been? I think we can. Should we? We absolutely should.”
Historically, animal experiments in the UK reached a peak of 4.14 million in 2015, largely fueled by a surge in genetic modification studies, predominantly on mice and fish. Following this peak, the number of animal experiments dropped significantly to around 2.88 million by 2020, thanks in part to the development of alternative research methods. However, since 2020, this downward trend has stalled, prompting renewed efforts from the government to accelerate the adoption of non-animal testing techniques.
Lord Vallance emphasized the importance of reinvigorating this downward trend by investing in cutting-edge alternatives such as experiments using animal tissues grown from stem cells, artificial intelligence (AI), and computer simulations. These emerging technologies promise to replicate biological processes without the need for live animals, offering potentially more reliable and ethically sound ways to conduct research and safety testing.
By the end of 2025, the government plans to eliminate the use of animals in certain key safety tests. For example, the current pyrogen test, which involves administering a small dose of a new drug to rabbits to check for fever-causing contaminants, will be replaced by a method using human immune cells cultured in the lab. Likewise, all animal-based tests used to detect dangerous germs in medicines will be phased out in favour of advanced cell and gene technologies.
Between 2026 and 2035, the government intends to accelerate the use of non-animal methods, including organ-on-a-chip technology and AI-driven models. The proposed approach categorizes animal tests into two groups: those that can be immediately replaced because safe and effective alternatives already exist, and those where alternatives are in development but require further validation to ensure reliability and safety.
To facilitate this validation process, the government plans to establish a Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods. This centre will focus on rigorously testing and proving new non-animal techniques so they can be widely adopted in scientific and regulatory contexts. Alongside this, ministers have committed to increasing funding for the development of alternative methods, including a £30 million investment in a dedicated research hub and additional grants to support innovative approaches and training programs.
One of the leading institutions working on alternatives to animal testing is the Centre for Predictive in vitro Models (CPM) at Queen Mary University of London. The CPM is pioneering "organ-on-a-chip" technology, which, despite sounding like the stuff of science fiction, involves relatively small glass devices containing tiny samples of human cells from organs such as the liver or brain. These cells are connected to electrodes that transmit data to computers, allowing researchers to study how different organs interact and respond to drugs or toxins.
Professor Hazel Screen, co-director of the CPM, explained that this technology enables scientists to build models of virtually any human organ on a chip, offering a powerful tool to test new drugs in ways that could surpass the quality of data obtained from animal studies. “Because we’re taking human cells, we should be able to do better quality science,” she said.
Despite the enthusiasm, some scientists caution that the goal of completely eliminating animal testing remains distant and may not be achievable in all areas of research. Professor Frances Balkwill, a cancer researcher at B