The National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) has today issued a press release claiming that the use of primates in drug testing could be reduced in certain circumstances—in this case for the testing of monoclonal antibodies.

RDS strongly supports this targeted approach to identifying opportunities for reducing animal use. According to the NC3Rs, the next stage is to identify and tackle the obstacles, particularly around the validation and international acceptance of alternative tests by regulatory authorities. Questioning the scientific appropriateness of the primate model is also an important part of the work. The scientific community has never tried to pretend that animal models are perfect, or can deliver all the answers with total reliability, so the need for critical scrutiny and appraisal will always be relevant.

This is exactly the kind of valuable work which the NC3Rs should be undertaking, and is supported by the principle of a Parliamentary motion which already has the support of over 40 MPs. Please ask your own MP to support this ‘EDM number 429’.