Skip to main content
Encouraging Update on Important NIH Strategic Plan
Last year, the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) began the process of updating its five-year Strategic Plan through comprehensive stakeholder engagement and a request for feedback on an outline of the Plan. Now, the agency’s innovative hub for nonanimal research has once again sought public feedback on a full draft of the Plan. Physicians Committee experts have weighed in on ways to improve medical research without using animals.
Because NCATS focuses on translational research—research that bridges experiments with clinical interventions—the Center recognizes the disadvantages of animal models, especially their inability to replicate human biology and predict clinical responses, and has thus been a pioneer in the development of nonanimal approaches. The Physicians Committee made several recommendations to build on agency progress toward the broader use of nonanimal methods and to strengthen the goals in the NCATS Draft Strategic Plan, including:
- Advancing the broad application of nonanimal research models across diseases and human tissue types;
- Clarifying the important role of nonanimal research models in addressing health disparities, due to their ability to account for patient- and population-specific factors that influence health outcomes;
- Addressing scientific challenges through infrastructure and training, such as improving accessibility of nonanimal models and training the next generation of nonanimal researchers;
- Communicating the value of nonanimal research models to avoid the negative consequences of animal methods bias; and
- Demonstrating transparency and accountability through exemplary strategic planning and tracking investments in nonanimal approaches.
The Physicians Committee applauds NCATS for its exemplary strategic planning, with virtual roundtable discussions and public input opportunities on both an outline of the plan and a full draft of the plan. We encourage the NIH to make these practices standard for all its strategic planning efforts.
