April 30, 2025

Americans for Medical Progress issued the following statement regarding the NIH’s April 29th announcement to launch an initiative focused on advancing human-based research technologies while reducing the use of animals.

WASHINGTON, D.C. Yesterday, April 29, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that it is launching a new initiative focused on advancing human-based research technologies while reducing the use of animals. To achieve this, the agency plans to establish a new office within the Office of the Director called Office of Research Innovation, Validation, and Application (ORIVA).

Below, we briefly summarize the announcement, followed by additional context that may be helpful as the biomedical research community assesses next steps.

• The announcement acknowledges that “traditional animal models continue to be vital to advancing scientific knowledge” and seeks to expand researchers’ capabilities to answer complex biomedical research questions.
• New technologies can help researchers achieve more translatable results “either alone” or “in combination” with animal research.
• The goal of ORIVA will be to coordinate agency-wide efforts to develop, validate, and scale the use of non-animal methods across all of NIH’s research portfolio. Additionally, this office will serve as a “hub” for interagency coordination.
• As part of its efforts to expand the use of NAMs, ORIVA will bolster funding, training, and infrastructure for NAMs to improve accessibility and scale.
• NIH intends to implement mitigation training for grant review staff to address “any possible bias towards animal studies” while integrating NAMs expertise into study sections.
• On an annual basis, the agency plans to publicly report the total research spending in NAMs and animal studies to “measure progress toward reduction of funding for animal studies.”

While this announcement may seem new or groundbreaking, this move actually stems from recommendations made back in December 2023 by the NIH Advisory Committee to the Director’s Working Group on Catalyzing Novel Approach Methods (NAMs). In February 2024, then-NIH Director Monica Bertagnolli accepted the recommendations, signaling the agency’s intent to begin implementation.

However, how this new office and initiative are implemented will matter significantly. It is unclear how NIH plans to fund the development, validation, and training around NAMs—especially given looming budget uncertainties. Furthermore, this effort must not come at the expense of other critical research, including animal studies that continue to play a key role in public health.

Certain aspects of the initiative—such as annual public reporting of total research spending and addressing bias in study section reviews—raises legitimate concerns and highlights the need for the new office to take an inclusive, balanced approach to implementation that prevents undue influence from any single interest group.

This is precisely where stakeholder input becomes essential. However, it remains unclear how much stakeholder input will shape the priorities of this new office. The 2023 NIH report emphasized the importance of involving clinicians and other end-users to ensure that NAMs deliver meaningful, translational results. At the same time, the NAMs field still faces challenges around shared definitions, reporting standards, and data-sharing—all of which need to be resolved for such initiatives to succeed.

AMP is committed to advancing science that protects human and animal health. We fully support the thoughtful use of new tools, including NAMs, but believe real progress will come from an integrated approach—where insights from animal research help strengthen NAMs, and vice versa. We will be watching this closely and advocating for informed, balanced implementation every step of the way.

Download a PDF copy of AMP’s statement here.