‘A mouse can’t tell us what works’: UK scientists to grow miniature human organs for drug testing
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- UK scientists will grow miniature human organs (organoids) from NHS patients' cells to test drugs and reduce animal use, with a £20m Medical Research Council-funded hub in Cambridge producing a library of standardised, validated organoids for academics and the pharmaceutical industry.
- Cambridge Stem Cell Institute's Matthias Zilbauer is starting with organoids for inflammatory bowel diseases including ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, while other teams will grow tumour organoids and electrically active brain cells.
- The initiative is part of Keir Starmer's government plan to cut animal research via 'new approach methodologies' (NAMs); Britain recorded 2.54m animal testing procedures last year, down 3.8% on 2024, with more than 90% using mice, rats, fish and birds.
- The scientific case: more than 90% of drugs that pass animal testing go on to fail in human trials, and US and European medicines regulators now encourage alternative approaches if available.
- VivoSphere is growing heart cells in tiny gel spheres for cardiac safety tests, replacing traditional tests that use 50–100 guinea pigs, rabbits and dogs; Innovate UK has awarded £2m across nine projects aimed at reducing dogs and monkeys in safety tests.
- Dr Juliet Dukes of the charity Replacing Animals in Research said organoids and organs-on-chips have 'real potential to deliver the promise of truly personalised medicine for individual patients.'
Why it matters: With 2.54m animal procedures logged in Britain last year and over 90% of animal-tested drugs failing in human trials, the MRC-backed Cambridge hub gives drug developers a human-tissue alternative that US and European regulators already encourage — directly accelerating Starmer's NAMs strategy while reshaping pharma's preclinical pipeline.
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