Minimising non-human primate use in drug development

The use of non-human primates (NHPs) continues to be necessary as part of the drug development process for various reasons, including current regulatory requirements and scientific justifications of human relevance, to ensure the safety of new pharmaceuticals in humans. With the increase in the development of biotherapeutics within the pharmaceutical industry in recent years, the number of NHPs used for testing has also increased. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the concomitant export ban from China, there is a current NHP shortage.

In December 2022, we hosted the webinar Minimising NHP use in drug development, to showcase the range of ongoing activities and highlight the opportunities that are currently available or being considered to minimise NHP use in drug development. You can find the full agenda below.

Please note the webinar recording is password-protected. The password is only available to those directly involved in the use of NHPs. Please email enquiries@nc3rs.org.uk if you would like to request access to the webinar recordings.

Webinar agenda

There were a series of talks from different industry consortia (IQ DruSafe and NHP reuse Working Group, BioSafe and EFPIA) on diverse aspects to minimise NHP use whilst continuing to develop new medicines for patients.

• Welcome and introductions.
  Noel Dybdal, Genentech

• Recommendations for minimising NHP use from NC3Rs working groups.
  Helen Prior, NC3Rs

• DruSafe initiatives supporting conservation of NHPs in drug development.
  Joanne Birkebak, Gilead Sciences

• Reuse of protein non-naïve monkeys in pharmaceutical research and development.
  Charles Mattis, AbbVie

• NHPs in the PKPD evaluation of biologics: needs and options to reduce, refine and replace. A BioSafe white paper.
  Hongbin Yu, Boehringer-Ingelheim and Karelle Menochet, UCB
• Analysis of EFPIA Survey 2022: impact of current NHP shortage on the pharma industry.
  Fred Brouta, UCB
• Panel discussion and audience Q&A.
• Concluding remarks.
  Noel Dybdal, Genentech