NIH UPDATES
On Tuesday, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a “new initiative to expand innovative, human-based science while reducing animal use in research.” NIH plans to establish a new Office of Research Innovation, Validation, and Application (ORIVA) within the Office of the Director. According to NIH, the new office will coordinate NIH-wide efforts to develop, validate, and scale the use of non-animal approaches across the agency’s biomedical research portfolio and serve as a hub for interagency coordination and regulatory translation for public health protection. NIH also plans to have grant review staff participate in training to address possible bias towards animal studies and integrate experts on alternative methods into study sections.
