Will AI and organoids end the need for animal testing for drug development?

Recently, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that they are creating a new office, the Office of Research Innovation, Validation, and Application (ORIVA), to help reduce animal research.

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To be clear, there is no replacement yet for animal research in biomedical science. Breakthroughs in stem cell technologies that allow differentiation of human cells into many different cell types have granted unprecedented access to human biology, and newly developed 3D organoid models are rapidly replicating certain aspects of organ function.

 There may come a time when we have accumulated enough knowledge and insight from animal research to “train” AI and sample huge databases to develop drugs that bypass the need for testing in animals.  Indeed, there are many new companies that are already trying to harness large cell atlases and imaging data

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Critical funding for animal research must continue today, but with a forward look to incorporating emerging non-animal technologies that can, in tandem, help move biomedical science forward.

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