The National Institutes of Health (NIH) says it’s pushing “to move biomedical research beyond animal model use” and “into human-based technologies as the future of preclinical science.”
But there’s a major contradiction standing in the way: NIH continues to fund a nationwide system built specifically to keep primate experimentation going.
Tell NIH: Stop Investing in Primate Experimentation
A National System Built Around Monkey Experiments
Across the United States, seven National Primate Research Centers (NPRCs) form a federally supported network dedicated to research using monkeys and other nonhuman primates.
These aren’t merely seven laboratories where animal research happens: NIH describes the primary goal of the NPRC program as facilitating the use of nonhuman primates in biomedical research. Through these centers, NIH funding helps provide researchers across the country with animals, labs, specialized facilities, scientific guidance, biological samples, and other resources for primate experiments.
In other words, the NPRCs are animal research infrastructure—an entire system designed to make primate experimentation possible and keep it going.
NIH also supports breeding colonies and other resources that help maintain the supply of primates used in research.
NIH Says Science Is Moving in Another Direction
At the same time, NIH is increasingly acknowledging that biomedical research needs to change.
In June 2026, NIH launched the Office of Research Innovation, Validation, and Application (ORIVA), a new federal office charged with advancing human-based research technologies and reducing animal use in research.
ORIVA is working to advance methods including human tissue models, computational approaches, and other technologies that NIH says can better reflect human biology.
Then, in September, NIH announced what it called “its biggest push yet to move biomedical research beyond animal model use.” The agency announced major investments in human-based research infrastructure, including organoid models, artificial intelligence, computational tools, and other new approach methodologies.
NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya has said the agency aims to steer biomedical research in this direction—but NIH’s actions and investments need to match its stated ambitions.
You Can’t Build the Future While Funding the Past
If NIH is serious about moving biomedical research toward methods that are more directly relevant to people, it can’t treat the NPRCs as an exception.
Our federal tax dollars shouldn’t continue expanding breeding colonies, monkey housing, labs, and other infrastructure designed to prolong primate experimentation for decades to come.
Instead, NIH should develop a transparent, measurable plan to transition the NPRC system away from primate experimentation.
That means reducing and ultimately ending experiments on primates, phasing out the breeding of monkeys for research, redirecting new investments toward human-based science, and publicly accounting for the animals being bred, held, used, transferred, retired, and killed within NIH-supported primate facilities.
And, of course, a responsible transition has to protect the monkeys who’re already captive there.
NIH must ensure appropriate lifetime care for animals who can’t be released and pursue retirement to reputable sanctuaries. Ending the cycle of primate experimentation should never mean abandoning the individuals the government’s already forced into it.
Tell NIH to Choose a Different Future
NIH has already acknowledged that promising new technologies can better reflect human biology. It’s investing millions of our federal tax dollars into the infrastructure needed to advance them.
Now it’s time to confront the other side of that equation. NIH can’t usher in a new era while it keeps funding the old one.
We’re calling on NIH to stop investing in the expansion and perpetuation of primate research and begin transitioning the NPRCs toward a future that no longer exploits monkeys.