Non-animal (AKA “in vitro”) testing labs & methods have been commercially available for about 20 years, while animal testing laboratories have been around for 50 years or more. Unfortunately, relatively few in vitro testing laboratories are found around the globe today.
However, I believe this will change dramatically in the next few years because the safety testing industry is now positioned for a significant shift toward in vitro (non-animal) testing. It will likely be a gradual shift mainly due to European regulatory organizations. Actions from this group of scientists are being driven by European citizens’ concerns. Europeans want to see animal testing reduced and replaced in areas that involve minor risk of consumer product related problems. It has been shown via commercial practices over the past 20 years that such a shift is quite doable in the areas of eye or skin irritancy.
European regulatory agencies have identified their first commercial “target market” as cosmetic products and since early 2009, no new cosmetic products could be introduced in Europe if its final formulation or its ingredients had been tested on animals. It is the opinion of many that nothing extremely serious in the way of human side effects is likely to come from an irritating cosmetic. Thus in vitro eye and skin irritancy test methods that spare animals can demonstrate viarRegulatory review programs to be “approvable” alternatives. This expectation is reasonable since several non-animal tests have provided years of commercial product safety testing where they have been shown to be nearly as accurate, if not the equal of animal tests.
As this is written, the European Center for the Validation of Alternative (to animals) Methods (ECVAM) continues its work evaluating and approving non-animal testing technologies. ECVAM leadership has shown a willingness to balance public safety risks with the benefits of eliminating unnecessary animal testing. They deserve much credit as the first government regulatory group to actually move a segment of the safety testing industry away from animal tests.
It is a fun & interesting exercise to predict where & how much bigger the future is for in vitro testing; when and which marketplace might be the next one influenced by regulatory demands to reduce animal testing without increasing public safety risk?
It could well be personal care products such as shampoos, dry skin products, etc. This market seems an especially good candidate since so many of its current companies already use in vitro tests in preparation for human testing.
Labeling a new product “not animal tested” is important to sales success for these brands, and for years regulatory agencies have been comfortable with data from either in vitro or in vivo testing because ultimately there will be human testing and liability for safety remains with the company marketing the product.
The future growth of in vitro testing is even more likely because many of these tests used for decades have proven to cost less per test result than animal tests (in most developed countries), and very importantly they deliver accurate results in only days as opposed to the months it takes for animal tests. This means new products get to market & bring in sales & profits sooner – a very important result in today’s fast-paced worlds of cosmetics and personal care products.
In vitro testing….it’s the way of the future.
Guest post by Rich Ulmer of InVitro International (IVRO). IVRO, headquartered in Irvine, CA, was established in September 1985 and is a customer and technology driven provider of non-animal testing methods. IVRO develops and commercializes globally both test kits, and laboratory services.
