The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has just launched a new federal office dedicated to advancing human-based research methods and reducing animal use in research.
Does this indicate a turning point for our movement to end animal experimentation?
The official establishment of the Office of Research Innovation, Validation, and Application (ORIVA) marks one of the more noteworthy federal actions in recent years aimed at shifting biomedical research away from animal experimentation and toward approaches that directly reflect human biology. Whether ORIVA ultimately drives meaningful change—or becomes another promising initiative with limited impact—remains to be seen.
What’s ORIVA?
According to the NIH, ORIVA will coordinate agency-wide efforts to develop, validate, and expand the use of new approach methodologies (NAMs)—a broad category of research that includes technologies like human cell and tissue models, organoids, computational modeling, artificial intelligence tools, and other animal-free research methods. The office will also help coordinate efforts across federal agencies and support the translation of these methods into regulatory decision-making.
NIH says that ORIVA will be housed within its Office of the Director, which may give it a potentially influential role across the agency’s massive research portfolio.
Part of a Pattern
The establishment of ORIVA follows a series of recent federal actions aimed at reducing the use of animals in research:
- In December 2022, Congress passed the FDA Modernization Act 2.0, eliminating a federal mandate that required FDA-approved drugs to have been tested on animals.
- In April 2025, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) revealed plans to begin phasing out its longstanding requirement for animal testing in the development of monoclonal antibodies and other drugs. In March 2026, the FDA followed up by publishing draft guidance for the use of NAMs in drug development.
- In June 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it was “expand[ing] its list of cutting-edge alternatives to animal studies.”
- In July 2025, the NIH announced all its grant applicants would be required to consider NAMs.
- In November 2025, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) directed an end to all its experiments using nonhuman primates.
These actions, when taken together, suggest a broader federal shift toward human-based research and away from the exploitation of animals in labs.
Why This Matters
For decades, animal experimentation has been treated as the default approach for biomedical research—even though more than 92% of drugs tested successfully in animals end up failing in people.
These failures cage, exploit, and kill millions of animals every year, waste billions of taxpayer dollars, and slow medical progress for people still waiting for cures and therapies.
NAMs offer a better path for everyone—human and non-human.
The creation of ORIVA signals growing recognition within the NIH—the world’s largest funder of animal research—that the future of science depends less on animals and more on human-relevant methods.
The Real Test Comes Next
The launch of ORIVA is encouraging, but creating an office is only one step. Its success will ultimately depend on how much authority, funding, and institutional support it’s given.
It’s unclear how quickly NIH-funded research will shift toward human-based approaches, how success will be measured, and whether animal use will meaningfully decline as a result.
But we’re hopeful.
Recent polling shows more and more Americans are opposed to animal experimentation. Gallup found that a record low 45% of respondents think medical testing on animals “morally acceptable”—and that number has been steadily trending downward for the last 25 years.
For those of us who seek an end to animal experimentation, ORIVA’s creation isn’t the finish line. But it’s a sign that public opinion, scientific innovation, advocacy efforts, and legislative reform appear to be reshaping federal research priorities.
What happens next will determine whether ORIVA becomes a symbolic gesture—or a turning point in the fight to free animals from labs forever.
Your Call to Action: Urge your legislators to pass the SPARE Act, a bill that aims to end federally-funded animal research. It takes 30 seconds or less to speak up—and it could save millions of animals’ lives. Take action now!
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About the Author: Christie Hendrickson is a leader at Rise for Animals with eight years of experience advocating for the end of animal experimentation.