Today in FridayScience:
In order for a drug to be approved in the US, FDA typically requires toxicity tests on animal species. The agency also supports alternative methods that are backed by science and provide the necessary data showing whether products are safe and effective.
- Some suggest that in clearing drugs for human trials the agency should rely more heavily on computer modeling, “organ chips,” and other nonanimal methods that have been developed over the past 10 to 15 years.
- Still, it remains unclear just how much the new law will change things at FDA. Although the legislation allows the agency to clear a drug for human trials without animal testing, it doesn’t require that it do so.
Source: Science – FDA no longer needs to require animal tests before human drug trials
