In 2025, the FDA published a roadmap to phase out animal testing in preclinical safety studies. The Secretary of Health and Human Services has made it a personal priority. The NIH director announced a parallel push to cut animal use. The Departments of Veterans Affairs and the EPA are moving the same way. And Congress has already cleared the runway: the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 removed the longstanding requirement that new drugs be tested in animals, and 3.0 directed the agency to formalize non-animal methods.
It sounds compassionate, and parts of it are genuinely promising. Reducing unnecessary animal testing is an important goal, but right now humane animal models are irreplaceable for the study of certain diseases, biological processes, and treatments.