All Things Policy Animal Testing: Time for Change
Aug 18, 2025
Surat Parvatam, a Senior Strategist at the Humane World for Animals with a PhD in cell biology, dives into the transformative shift away from animal testing. He discusses cutting-edge alternatives like organ-on-chip technologies and AI-driven models, emphasizing their potential for accuracy and ethics. The conversation also highlights India’s chance to lead in this global movement, pushing for innovative practices in the pharmaceutical sector. With a focus on policy changes and societal implications, Parvatam outlines a future where human-centric research takes precedence.
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Purpose Of Animal Testing
- Animal testing is used to predict human responses across medicines, vaccines and chemicals before human exposure.
- It serves multiple regulatory risk categories like irritation, carcinogenicity and developmental toxicity.
Regulatory Species Requirements
- Regulators historically required one rodent and one non-rodent species for submissions, blocking many non-animal models.
- Invertebrate models like flies and fish are mainly used in basic biomedical research, not regulatory submissions.
Why Animal Models Persisted
- Animal models often fail to predict human outcomes, but regulation historically forced their use.
- Recent regulatory changes now allow non-animal data to be submitted alongside animal data.