Funds to develop alternative solutions to animal testing

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:55:09 +0200

The European Commission and the cosmetic industry match research funds to develop alternative solutions to animal testing.

On 30 July 2009, the European Commission launched a €25 million call for proposals in this field and the European cosmetic industry, represented by the European Cosmetics Association (Colipa), committed to match the funds. As a result, up to €50 million will be allocated to research projects laying the scientific foundation for future safety testing methods with a higher predictive value, and that will be faster and cheaper than animal tests.

With this call, the European Commission is seeking proposals for research projects involving a wide range of scientific partners across Europe and focusing on the following topics:

- development of organ-simulating devices;
- use of human-based target cells;
- definition of new toxicological endpoints and intermediate markers
- computational modelling techniques
- exploitation of approaches developed in systems biology; and
- integrated data analysis and scientific services.

Through the co-operation between the European Commission and Colipa, the projects selected can be funded up to 100% of their total eligible costs.

More information can be found in the related Europa press release of 31 Aug 09.