In a groundbreaking announcement Tuesday, April 29, 2025, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) revealed a new initiative to reduce animal experiments while expanding human-based science. The initiative comes less than three weeks after an announcement from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that it is implementing a phase-out plan for animal testing in drug development.

As part of NIH’s initiative, the agency will launch the Office of Research Innovation, Validation, and Application (ORIVA) to promote the development, validation and use of non-animal research methods, while also expanding funding, training, and infrastructure for non-animal research.

Additionally, NIH grant review staff will undergo training to reduce bias towards approving animal studies, while experts on alternatives methods will be included to promote the use of innovative, animal-free techniques such as organoids and computational models.

CAARE has worked tirelessly over the past decade to promote this paradigm shift to decrease dependence on animals by demonstrating consistently that we have the capacity to conduct superior, ethical human-based research.

In many ways, the goals and functions of the NIH initiative mirror legislation introduced by CAARE in 2021 – The Humane Research and Testing Act – which called for phasing out animal experiments by funding, incentivizing and training scientists in cutting edge non-animal methods.

The Humane Research and Testing Act outlined a clear plan to phase out animal experiments by disclosing numbers of animals used in research annually – data which has never been released in the U.S. – to allow for a measurable reduction. Likewise, NIH’s initiative will require the agency to divulge research spending to evaluate progress toward reducing animals.

While CAARE has worked very hard to see this day, we know that now is not the time to sit back and rest. The use of animals is deeply entrenched in the research industry, even as its failures have finally been acknowledged by the leading scientific agencies in the U.S.

Rather, now is the time to accelerate our efforts to finally see an end to animal experimentation. We are prepared to ramp up our efforts to continue proving that animal experimentation seriously underperforms while causing immeasurable suffering for animals.

It must end. Period.

We are grateful to you, our supporters, for standing with us in this pursuit that has brought about these recent breakthroughs, which give us the momentum to keep going.

We are ready for the work ahead and will keep pressing until the day that all animal labs are closed forever.

Citizens for Alternatives to Animal Research and Experimentation (CAARE), is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, established to highlight and promote research without animals.

Please donate to support CAARE’s mission to reduce animal suffering by disseminating information about the power and progress of research without animals.