HHS announces initiative to expand human-based research methods

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced a series of agency-wide actions intended to expand human-based research methods and decrease reliance on animal testing. This initiative involves several key agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H).

The strategy focuses on New Approach Methodologies (NAMs), which utilize technologies such as human organoids, tissue models, computational modeling, and artificial intelligence to study human biology. HHS Secretary Kennedy stated that the department is moving toward a new era of biomedical research by modernizing regulations and investing in technologies that better capture human biological responses.

By developing and scaling these human-based models, researchers may be able to identify promising medical treatments earlier in the process. Additionally, these tools could provide critical data on how treatments affect humans before clinical trials begin, potentially reducing the risk of adverse events during human testing.