NHPig

Before a new medicine is tested in humans for the first time, researchers carry out a range of tests to ensure the medicine is safe. While many of these tests involve (for example) cells in petri dishes or computer-based tests, some tests still involve the use of animals including, in certain cases, non-human primates (NHPs).

EU law only allows the use of NHPs when no alternative is available. More broadly, the EU encourages research designed to develop alternatives to the use of NHPs, and that’s where NHPig comes in.

NHPig aims to further reduce the use of NHPs by replacing them with mini- and micro-pigs in non-clinical safety studies. Today, we do not have enough scientific knowledge and dedicated tools to use pigs in these studies; NHPig will fill this gap.

Among other things, NHPig will do this by performing a detailed characterisation of minipigs that are already used in research and address knowledge gaps on pigs’ immune system. They will also develop new tools to further study non-clinical safety issues in minipigs, including validated antibodies and biomarkers for liver and kidney toxicity. The project will also develop cell-based tests as non-animal approaches.

Part of the project will focus on improving the living conditions of the minipigs, for example by developing non-invasive sensors that would allow the physiology and behaviour of mini-/micropigs to be monitored continuously. The project hopes this will make it easier to evaluate the effects of new treatments on major physiological systems. In addition, data coming from freely moving animals will be more reproducible and reliable and so has the potential to reduce the number of animal studies.

The project will set up a regulatory advisory board and an ethics and animal welfare advisory board to ensure compliance with EU rules on the use of animals in research & development.

One key project output will be a publicly available database and IT platform comprising both existing information on mini/micropigs, NHPs and humans and data generated during the project.