FDA Commissioner Marty Makary pledged to "meaningfully reduce" unnecessary animal testing that's currently used to bring new drugs to market and to test them in early developmental stages. While Makary's proposal is light on specifics, a reduction of animal testing could lower R&D costs, speed up drug
development, and "potentially even translate into lower drug prices," Makary said at an FDA-NIH workshop at the FDA's headquarters on Monday. "One of our biggest goals is to reduce animal testing in a way that's meaningful and continues to protect against public safety," he added. Makary's FDA in April said animal testing requirements, which vary depending on the type of drug in development, will be "reduced, refined, or potentially replaced" via "a range of approaches, including AI-based computational models of toxicity and cell lines and organoid toxicity testing in a laboratory setting." |