Sponsors (18)
The bill pushes federal research toward validated human‑relevant, nonanimal methods and greater transparency—potentially improving patient‑relevant science and reducing animal use—but it increases federal and institutional costs, administrative burdens, and risks delays or disruption during validation and transition.
Patients and people in clinical trials: federally driven promotion and validation of non‑animal, human‑relevant methods (e.g., organoids, in vitro systems) is likely to improve the relevance of preclinical research and could reduce drug failures and safety risks in humans.
Scientists, researchers, and research institutions: creation of a dedicated NIH center plus funding, training, and clearer NIH guidance/incentives will accelerate development, validation, and adoption of alternative methods.
Taxpayers and the public: standardized, biennial reporting and documentation requirements will increase transparency and oversight of federally funded animal use, enabling better accountability.
Taxpayers and NIH research priorities: establishing and operating a new NIH center will increase federal spending and could require trade‑offs or reallocation of funds from other research programs.
Researchers, institutions, and smaller recipients of federal funds: new administrative, compliance, and reporting requirements (exhaustive searches for nonanimal methods, documentation for grants, biennial reports, reduction plans) will increase proposal time and operating costs, with a disproportionate burden on smaller institutions.
Patients and researchers: if nonanimal methods are not yet fully validated or evaluations are contested, mandating their prior consideration could block or delay some animal studies and slow development or regulatory decisions for new therapies.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Requires NIH to prioritize and support validated nonanimal research methods, creates a new NIH center for alternatives, and mandates public biennial reporting and reduction plans for animals used in federally funded research.
Introduced February 13, 2025 by Ken Calvert · Last progress February 13, 2025
Requires the National Institutes of Health to prioritize and expand nonanimal, human-relevant research methods, creates a new NIH center to support alternatives to animal testing, and forces federally funded research entities and federal agencies that use animals to report and publicly publish biennial counts and reduction plans for animals used in research. It also changes NIH grant and review procedures to require documented searches for scientifically satisfactory nonanimal methods and to include reviewers with expertise in those methods before animal research is approved.