On Nov. 11, 2025, the United Kingdom government announced that animal testing in science is set to be phased out faster under a new plan to deliver on the government’s manifesto commitment, unveiled by Science Minister Lord Vallance.

The comprehensive roadmap backs researchers to seize on new and developing opportunities to replace certain animal tests, which are currently still used – where necessary – to determine the safety of products like life-saving vaccines and the impact chemicals like pesticides can have on living beings and the environment. 

The strategy recognises that phasing out the use of animals in science can only happen where reliable and effective alternative methods, with the same level of safety for human exposure, can replace them.

The plan sets out specific commitments for the coming years, marking it out as one of the most detailed of its kind in the world and opening up new opportunities for the UK to lead on unearthing alternatives to phase out animal tests while growing our economy.

This includes an end to regulatory testing on animals to assess the potential for new treatments to cause skin and eye irritation and skin sensitisation by the end of 2026. By 2027 researchers are expected to end tests of the strength of botox on mice and to use only DNA-based lab methods for adventitious agent testing of human medicines – the process for detecting viruses or bacteria that might accidentally contaminate medicines. 

By 2030 it will also reduce pharmacokinetic studies – which track how a drug moves through the body over time – on dogs and non-human primates.

Alongside the new plan, £15.9 million has been committed by the Medical Research Council (MRC), Innovate UK and the Wellcome Trust to advance promising ‘human in vitro models’. This includes organ-on-a-chip systems so researchers can test how drugs affect people without using animals, while also unearthing results more relevant to humans. 5 teams across the UK will focus on human in vitro disease models of the liver, brain, cancer, pain and blood vessels.