Market report · New approach methodologies

Non-animal methods: where the research is, and where it is moving

From 12,202 publications, 2023 to 2026, each one read for the approach used, the organ modelled, and the job the work was doing.

12,202publications, 2023 to 2026

2,569institutions publishing the work

1,145studies claiming an animal test is replaced

What the data shows

The work splits almost exactly in half between developing the methods and using them. 6,099 publications develop or validate a method, or study a disease with one. 6,095 use a method to test a drug or a chemical.

Basis: the job each publication was doing, one per paper. Method development and validation is 4,297 of the first group, disease study 1,802.

Inside the testing work, efficacy dominates and the regulated end is thin: 4,574 publications test efficacy or pharmacology, 2,247 test safety or toxicity, and 312 address ADME and pharmacokinetics.

Basis: the application recorded on each publication, one per paper. 60 address regulatory validation or qualification directly.

Efficacy or pharmacology37.5%

Method or platform development26.7%

Safety or toxicity testing18.4%

Disease modelling13.2%

ADME or pharmacokinetics2.6%

Regulatory validation or qualification0.5%

Share of the 12,202 publications, one application per paper.

Approaches

Organoid

In silico or computational

Spheroid or 3D aggregate

Advanced 2D or co-culture

Animal model (comparator)

Organ-on-chip or microphysiological system

iPSC-derived cells

Ex vivo human tissue

Bioprinted tissue

Reconstructed tissue (skin, airway, cornea)

Share of the 12,202 publications using each approach.

In silico methods are another way people are trying to build predictive disease models. At 35.8% of publications, computational work is nearly level with organoids.

Trends

How each approach has moved, 2016 to 2026. One of these approaches has lost more than a third of its share since 2016 while its own output kept rising. Another passed it in 2023. The full series, year by year, is in the atlas.

What this atlas answers

These are some of the questions the atlas was built to address.

Which approaches are growing, and which are flat or losing ground?
How often is an animal experiment run as well, and in which applications?
Which organs and tissues carry the most work, and which carry the least?
Which institutions lead each approach, and in which countries?
Which platforms, cell lines and kits appear in the methods, and who supplies them?

How it is built

Sourced from the published literature, read one publication at a time.

View the full atlas. Every publication, institution, approach and lane, with the readouts by organ, application and replacement claim. Access is currently invite only.