Scientists Develop Cancer Drug Without Testing on a Single Animal

Researchers hope that technology like this could help eliminate animal testing and lead to faster, safer, and more effective drug development.

Prof. Yaakov Nahmias (right) and researcher Aaron Cohen, holding the "human simulator" chip (courtesy of Hebrew University)

Scientists have created a cancer drug by using a human-simulating chip - all without running a single test on an animal.

The chip, developed by Hebrew University researchers, contains human tissue-embedded microsensors to monitor the response of the kidney, liver, and heart to certain drug treatments. 

Utilizing this new technology, the researchers were ultimately able to combat the harmful buildup of fat in the livers of patients that take anti-cancer drugs.

“What makes our technology unique is that it allows us to go beyond what was ever possible with animal experimentation. We are now able to insert microsensors that offer us real-time data on how drugs work and when they stop working,” said lead researcher and Hebrew University of Jerusalem bioengineer Yaakov Nahmias.

It is believed to be the first time an organ-on-chip has been used to successfully develop a new treatment, all while avoiding the typical step of animal experimentation. The new drug has now been submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval. 

“To our knowledge, this is the first time a drug is taking this step without animal testing, and the reason is that we have eliminated this need by using our ‘human on a chip’ technology,” Nahmias said.

There is no guarantee that the FDA will approve the drug - they may insist that it must be tested on animals before it can proceed to human trials. But, if it is successful, it could be a huge catalyst in reducing the number of animals used in labs and help pave the way to a future free from animal testing.

With over 25 million animals used in lab experiments in the U.S. alone, this breakthrough could be monumental.

And in addition to making scientific research more humane, this new technique has the potential to lead to faster, safer, and more effective drug development.

“Drug development is a long and expensive endeavor that is defined by multiple failures. The main reason for these failures is that clinical experiments are ultimately based on minimal information gained from animal experiments which often fail to replicate the human response,” said Nahmias. “Getting a drug to the point of clinical trials normally takes four to six years, hundreds of animals and costs millions of dollars. We’ve done it in eight months, without a single animal, and at a fraction of the cost.”

To learn about how campaigners are working to change the system and stop animal tests, listen to our podcast episode: “Tax Payer Funded Torture” with Justin Goodman of The White Coat Waste Project here.

---

More stories:

---

Species Unite

A collection of stories of those who fight the good fight on behalf of animals.

---