NIH Director, Dr. Monica Bertagnolli announced today that the agency is accepting the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director (ACD) recommendations to catalyze the development and use of novel alternative methods. Through its Novel Alternative Methods (NAMs) Working Group, the ACD consulted with experts in the field and reviewed input from the community to deliver a final report in December 2023. The full report, including the recommendations can be viewed here.

Leveraging these recommendations and building upon existing NIH efforts, the NIH Common Fund has proposed a research program called Complement Animal Research in Experimentation (Complement-ARIE) that aims to accelerate the development of NAM technologies and build a suite of tools that could complement, or in some cases, replace traditional models for researchers to study human biology and disease. This program received concept clearance from the NIH Council of Councils at its January 25, 2024, meeting.  More information can be found on the Complement-ARIE website.

To learn more about these activities, please see the statement issued by Dr. Bertagnolli on the acceptance of these recommendations.

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