NIH Launches ORIVA Office to Accelerate Nonanimal, Human-Based Research Methods
核心洞察
The NIH has established the Office of Research Innovation, Validation, and Application (ORIVA (搜索)) to coordinate agency-wide adoption of nonanimal, human-based research approaches like organoids and tissue chips.
ORIVA (搜索) will serve as an interagency hub, facilitating cross-agency validation efforts with the FDA and EPA (搜索) to update testing guidance and resource allocation.
Since April 2025, the NIH has awarded over $150 million for human-based research technology development and has ceased releasing funding opportunities exclusively focused on animal-based projects.
The National Institutes of Health has formally launched the Office of Research Innovation, Validation, and Application (ORIVA (搜索)), more than a year after the office was first proposed. Housed within the Office of the Director, ORIVA will coordinate agency-wide efforts to advance the use of nonanimal, human-based research approaches—including 3D cell-based tissue chips and organoids—ensuring consistent, streamlined adoption across the NIH's diverse research portfolio.
The new office will also function as an interagency hub, supporting parallel efforts at the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency. It will facilitate cross-agency validation efforts and ensure efficient resource allocation to relevant test guidance updates.
"We are at an inflection point," said Catharine E. Krebs, PhD, medical research program manager at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. "Not just at the NIH, but also at the FDA, EPA (搜索), and CDC, and not just in the US, but globally: We are seeing major shifts to reduce reliance on animals and more accurately model human biology."
Momentum Building Across NIH
Since April 2025, the NIH has taken several steps to strengthen support for human-based research and reduce animal use. The agency no longer releases funding opportunities exclusively focused on animal-based projects. It has entered into negotiations to potentially phase out primate use at the largest of the seven National Primate Research Centers. Additionally, the NIH recently awarded over $150 million for human-based research technology development, validation, and standardization.
The foundation for these developments has been building for over a decade. The Tissue Chip for Drug Screening program, launched in 2012, has grown into multiple successful Tissue Chip projects and initiatives at the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, propelling nonanimal research technologies into the tools available today.
"ORIVA (搜索) has been a long time coming," said Dr. Krebs. "It's no longer a question of whether these technologies will improve the way we conduct research. They already are. Now the question is how best to implement them so they reach their full potential. ORIVA will help us do that, and patients and animals alike will benefit."
Strategic Planning for FY 2026-2031
As part of the NIH's strategic planning process for Fiscal Years 2026-2031, the agency solicited feedback on its framework. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine submitted key recommendations to further advance human-based methods, alongside a cohort of physicians, scientists, and students who provided their own input.
The recommendations include scaling up interdisciplinary education and training in human-based methods through measures like training grants and a pilot program to support investigators transitioning their labs away from animal use. The committee also urged the NIH to shift support from animal experimentation toward human-based infrastructure, including broader funding for research centers, core facilities, and biobanks with large, diverse, and well-characterized human samples.
Strengthening Oversight and Accountability
The Physicians Committee further recommended that the NIH strengthen policies governing the justification of animal use. This includes updating language in key policy documents—the US Government Principles, the Public Health Service Policy on the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, and the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals—to require nonanimal methods where available.
On the issue of transparency, the committee noted that the NIH currently requests only crude numbers of animals used every four years from U.S. animal research facilities, and more than 95% of the animals reported are excluded from Animal Welfare Act requirements. The committee supports the Federal Animal Research Accountability Act (H.R. 3295), which would require the NIH to collect and publicly report the number of animals bred, housed, and used annually, sorted by species and level of pain and distress.
Currently, as many as 100 million dogs, cats, monkeys, mice, rats, and other animals are used in U.S. laboratories each year, according to the Physicians Committee. The organization's team of experts plans to continue submitting public comments and meeting with agency officials to turn commitment into action.