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Back in the spring, the previous government decided to invest 124.5 million euros in a new Centre for Animal-free Biomedical Translation (CPBT) in Utrecht. “Great news", says initiator of CPBT and former dean of Veterinary Medicine, Wouter Dhert. The faculty is committed to animal-free innovation, even though animal testing will still be needed for veterinary education and research in the future.

"Animal-free innovations open up a world of new possibilities", says Daniela Salvatori, Professor of Comparative Anatomy and Physiology. "We have to pass these on to the next generation, so that first-year students are already aware that things can be different, and better. That animal testing is not a gold standard."

Animal testing in education has decreased

Salvatori is chair of Transition to Animal-free Innovation Utrecht. Among other things, she is committed to reducing the number of animal experiments in the education given at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. And she has been very successful in this. For example, they now use plastinated animals and virtual reality (see box). Since 2013, the number of animal experiments in the teaching of VetMed students has decreased by seventy per cent, from 6,611 to 1,984.

And in research, too, many innovations are taking place. Whenever possible, researchers use animals that are patients rather than healthy laboratory animals. Or they work, for example, with artificial intelligence and data science, such as the group of Juliette Legler, Professor of One Health Toxicology. "Of the 100 million laboratory animals used worldwide each year, 30 per cent are needed for legally required toxicological safety tests", says Legler. "The remarkable thing is: Those safety assessments are there to protect humans, but they are being conducted on an animal. Even though the predictive value of animal testing for human health is limited; it’s outdated. Humans should be the starting point, not laboratory animals."

"It is our duty to keep the use of laboratory animals to an absolute minimum"

This is also true in the case of drug development. What works in a laboratory animal definitely doesn’t always work in humans. In fact, generally speaking, it doesn’t work. Fortunately, more and more alternatives are becoming available and drugs can, for example, be tested on organoids (cultured versions of miniature human organs). Wouter Dhert: "Utrecht leads the world in this research, and we have a unique ecosystem with many partners in the life sciences on a single campus." CPBT has come at exactly the right time, says Dhert. "The academic world of both human and veterinary medicine, industry, regulators, patient organisations, the government and NGOs are working together better and better."

Does this mean that animal testing will soon no longer be used in the veterinary sector? Experts warn that that is not the case. "In veterinary medicine, methods and treatments are obviously mainly developed in order to identify, prevent or cure disease in animals themselves in a timely manner”, says Professor of Veterinary Epidemiology Arjan Stegeman. "That development cannot take place without animals from the species itself, which by law are also laboratory animals in animal experiments." It will also not be possible to train vets without students handling animals, and that quickly qualifies as animal testing. "But it is our duty to keep the use of laboratory animals to an absolute minimum. And fortunately, more and more people are realising that."

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