Drug safety testing requires animal experiments that cause significant suffering — and faces pressure for reform.
Pharmaceutical animal testing creates a direct tension between the welfare of test animals and the safety of humans using new medicines. Most countries require animal testing before human trials — creating a regulatory framework that mandates animal use regardless of available alternatives. The scientific case for reform is strengthening: many animal toxicology tests have poor human predictive value, meaning animals suffer without producing useful safety information. Investment in validated new approach methods — human cell organoids, organ-on-chip systems, and computational models — offers the prospect of both better safety predictions and reduced animal use.