Innovate UK Opens Funding for Non-Animal Drug Testing Methods

The competition focuses on developing disruptive and innovative alternatives for improved pharmacokinetic (PK) and cardiac safety studies, aiming to further qualify these methods towards broad adoption or improve their applicability in a drug development setting, while enabling progress towards government targets of more than 35% reduction in dedicated PK studies using dogs or non-human primates (NHPs) and more than 50% reduction in dedicated cardiovascular safety studies using dogs or NHPs by 2030.

Projects eligible for funding must start by 1 July 2026, end by 31 March 2027, and last between six and nine months, with total costs of no more than £200,000, inclusive of VAT. Applications must include only eligible project costs, and any deviation from the eligibility criteria must be approved by Innovate UK at least 10 working days before the competition closes. Projects must always start on the first of the month and cannot commence until a contract has been approved by Innovate UK.

Applicants can be organisations of any size, including those based in the EU, EEA, or internationally, and may work alone or subcontract specialist skills from other businesses, research organisations, research and technology organisations, or third sector entities such as charities or social enterprises. Contracts are awarded to a single legal entity, and the majority of the project work and key deliverables must be completed by the applicant within the UK, though subcontractors can be engaged for specialist expertise.

Innovate UK will invest up to £2 million in this competition, subject to receiving a sufficient number of high-quality applications. The competition is delivered in partnership with the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs), and both Innovate UK and NC3Rs will participate in the assessment process.

For more information, visit GOV.UK.