WASHINGTON, DC, Dec. 23, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The U.S. House of Representatives today gave final approval to the FDA Modernization Act 2.0, revised the drug approval process and promised a drastic reduction in the use of dogs, primates and other animals in laboratory testing. The provision, which accompanies a year-end spending package and is scheduled for President Biden to sign into law later today, repeals a federal mandate for animal testing of new FDA-approved drugs that had been in effect since 1938. The FDA Modernization Act also includes a provision – the Reducing Animal Testing Act – to eliminate a similar mandate for biosimilars regulated by the US Public Health Service.

“This is the largest policy development in Congressional history in the quest to replace animal testing with morally and scientifically superior non-animal methods,” said Wayne Pacelle, President of Animal welfare campaign and the Center for a Humane Economy. “Legislators have been persuaded by our campaign to phase out mandatory animal testing in favor of 21st-century testing methods based on human biology.”

More than 200 Organizations, medical associations, biotech and patient advocacy groups supported the legislation. Mr. Pacelle also recognized Laurie McGrath of the McGrath Family Foundation of San Diego and the late Robert “Skip” Trimble of Dallas for their support at key stages in efforts to modernize drug testing in the United States.

The omnibus spending bill also includes $5 million in new funds to support an FDA-wide program for new alternative methods to reduce animal testing. This funding came as a derivative of the lobbying campaign to pass the FDA Modernization Act 2.0.

The Senate and House of Representatives had independently approved the FDA Modernization Act for the past few months. In September, Senators Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Cory Booker, DN.J., won the unanimous endorsement of their peers in passing p. 5002 as an independent measure. p. 5002 also contained Senator Ben Ray Lujan’s Reducing…