[Xenopus] NIH Policy on Animal Research - Please Comment by July 14

[Khokha, Mustafa]

Colleagues,

As many of you know, biomedical science in the US has recently been challenging.

The NIH just announced an intent to move away from “outdated animal models” towards research in humans (human subjects, human cells, etc) and other non-animal models (NAMs) such as computer simulation.

Importantly, we have a short window to provide comment. DUE by July 14 2025
https://www.fda.gov/news-events/fda-meetings-conferences-and-workshops/fda-nih-workshop-reducing-animal-testing-07072025
There is a video of the entire workshop – the NIH relevant part is at the 2hr38min mark.  Comment box is at the bottom.

Also Xenbase has put up a nice page with Carol’s editorials on the importance of animal research.
https://www.xenbase.org/xenbase/doNewsRead.do?id=1021

Please we strongly encourage you to provide comments.  Also more comments is better as that are likely to have a larger impact.

One major challenge is that the specifics of such a policy are not clear. Carol and I just met with NICHD staff, and they have an “optimistic” view but can’t answer any of our specific questions – they just don’t know.  So providing these comments to the link above are important.  We can make a difference by highlighting the terrible impact to biomedical science if animal models are no longer pursued.

Mustafa Khokha, International Xenopus Board, President
Carol LaBonne, SDB President
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