The Government is committed to supporting, funding, and accelerating cutting edge technologies that allow animal use to be reduced, replaced, or avoided. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, provides core funding to the National Centre of the 3Rs (NC3Rs) which works nationally and internationally to drive the uptake of 3Rs (replacement, reduction, and refinement) technologies and ensure that advances are reflected in policy, practice and regulations on animal research.
Since the NC3Rs was launched we have committed £100 million through its research, innovation, and early career awards to provide new 3Rs approaches for scientists in academia and industry to use. This includes almost £27 million in contracts through its CRACK IT Challenges innovation scheme to UK and EU-based institutions, mainly focusing on new approaches for the safety assessment of pharmaceuticals and chemicals that reduce the use of animals.
The Government remains committed to the development of non-animal technologies. Such technologies have the potential to reduce the reliance on the use of animals, improve the efficiency of drug research and development, and deliver safer, cheaper, and more effective medicines to patients.