Researchers have developed lab-grown organoids and “organ on a chip” technologies that use human cells to more accurately and efficiently test drug safety, potentially replacing traditional animal testing. These innovations promise to reduce drug development costs, improve personalized medicine, and eliminate the ethical and scientific issues associated with animal testing.
Researchers at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City have developed tiny, lab-grown beating hearts called organoids, created from a patient’s own stem cells. These miniature organs, visible only under a microscope, allow doctors to screen for the most effective medications for individual patients, significantly reducing the time spent on trial and error. Beyond personalized medicine, organoids represent a promising future for drug testing, potentially replacing the need for animal testing altogether.
Animal testing has been a legal requirement since 1937, following a tragic incident where a new antibiotic formulation caused over 100 deaths. Despite this long history, animal testing often fails to predict toxic effects in humans accurately, leading to drugs being withdrawn from the market even after passing animal safety tests. This has prompted scientists, politicians, and entrepreneurs to seek more reliable and humane alternatives to animal testing that could improve drug safety and reduce costs.
One such alternative is the “organ on a chip” technology, which uses clusters of human cells embedded in miniature electronic devices to simulate organ behavior. In a 2022 study, researchers tested 27 drug compounds previously deemed safe by animal studies but later found toxic in humans. The liver organ chips accurately identified the dangerous compounds, demonstrating the potential of this technology to enhance drug safety testing and save the pharmaceutical industry billions of dollars annually.
Cost is another major driver for moving away from animal testing. Developing a single drug can cost over $2 billion, with the industry spending nearly $300 billion annually on research and development. Despite this, more than 90% of drug candidates fail, partly due to the inaccuracies of animal testing. Automated cell culture technologies, like those developed by London-based Midos, aim to replicate human cells more consistently and efficiently, providing faster and more reliable data while reducing the reliance on animal models.
The FDA has proposed using organoids and cell cultures to eliminate animal testing, starting with monoclonal antibodies—drugs that mimic the immune system and treat diseases like cancer and Crohn’s disease. These drugs often fail in mice and require testing in more closely related animals like monkeys, which is costly and sometimes misleading. By adopting these new technologies, the pharmaceutical industry hopes to improve drug testing accuracy, reduce costs, and ultimately end the use of animals in drug development.