For years, I’ve passed bills and advocated to end the unnecessary and cruel practice of using animals in drug testing. What’s worse is that, in recent years, our taxpayer dollars have indirectly helped fund these through grants with little oversight or accountability. 

But recently, we got good news from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in our fight. 

Earlier this month, the FDA released new draft guidance with a clear path for drug developers to phase out all animal testing with “New Approach Methodologies” (NAMs). These are exactly as you'd expect: modern and science-based technology–like synthetic models or computer simulations—that can determine a medication’s impact on the human body. And these breakthrough advancements actually make that determination more accurately than animal tests. 

That’s right—new alternatives get the job done and spare innocent animals. There’s no reason to subject dogs and cats to painful experiments when current research tells us it isn’t actually the most reliable way to develop safe drugs. 

This new guidance won’t end the abusive testing overnight, but it’s a good road map for where we’re heading. I’ll keep working to make sure we stay on track.