Drugs: Research
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, with reference to the press release entitled Patients to benefit from faster access to medicines as UK moves away from animal testing in science, published on 12 August 2026, what the nine cutting-edge projects are aimed at identifying new methods of animal-free scientific testing and funded by Innovate UK.
Answered by Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade
Innovate UK is investing up to £2 million in nine projects aimed at developing and evaluating new approaches to animal-free scientific testing. The projects include the development of beating heart cells in a dish, lab-grown human ear models, human-relevant models and simulations to predict how medicines behave, and artificial intelligence tools to predict how drugs move through the body. Together, these projects are intended to support the development of more human-relevant approaches for medicines research and testing, reducing reliance on animal studies where scientifically appropriate. The full list can be found on the press release.
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