Senate Passes Paul, Booker Bipartisan FDA Modernization Act 2.0 to End Animal Testing Mandates

Press Release

Today, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed Senator Rand Paul's (R-KY) and Senator Cory Booker's (D-NJ) bipartisan FDA Modernization Act 2.0 to end animal testing mandates.

This legislation ends an outdated FDA mandate that experimental drugs must be tested on animals before they are used on humans in clinical trials. The bill doesn't ban animal testing outright but would allow the option for drug sponsors to use alternative methods where they are suitable.

The legislation is cosponsored by Senators Mike Braun (R-IN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Susan Collins (R-ME), Angus King (D-ME), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), and Rick Scott (R-FL). The bill will now head to the U.S. House of Representatives.

"The FDA Modernization Act 2.0 will accelerate innovation and get safer, more effective drugs to market more quickly by cutting red tape that is not supported by current science, and I'm proud to have led the charge. The passage of this bipartisan bill is a step toward ending the needless suffering and death of animal test subjects -- which I'm glad both Republicans and Democrats can agree needs to end," said Dr. Paul.

"Lawmakers from both parties recognize that the United States must lift an archaic animal-testing mandate for drug development and replace that strategy with 21st-century methods grounded on human biology," said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy. "This is the biggest policy development in Congressional history on the fight to replace animal testing with morally and scientifically superior methods."

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