A new U.S. law has eliminated the requirement that drugs in development must undergo testing in animals before being given to participants in human trials.
Animal rights advocates have long pushed for such a move, and some in the pharmaceutical industry have argued that animal testing can be ineffective and expensive.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY, who sponsored the FDA Modernization Act 2.0, said in a statement that the new law will help end the “needless suffering and death of animal test subjects” and will “get safer, more effective drugs to market more quickly by cutting red tape that is not supported by current science.”
PETA cheered the new law as a “radical shift” in how new drugs and treatments will be created.
Signed by President Biden in December as part of a larger spending package, the law doesn’t ban the testing of new drugs on animals outright.
www.npr.org/2023/01/12/1148529799/fda-animal-testing-pharmaceuticals-drug-development