Competition launches to find ways to replace dogs in drug testing

A competition has been launched for tech innovators challenging them to create new ways to replace the use of dogs in certain drug tests.

The National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research’s (NC3Rs) ‘Virtual Second Species’ challenge invites those in the tech industry to create ‘virtual dogs’ which scientists can use to predict the adverse effects of drugs before their first use in humans.

The aim is to find developers who can apply advanced computations and mathematical modelling approaches to develop a suite of virtual dog tissues and organs to model toxicological endpoints for New Chemical Entities (NCEs). These models will hopefully be able to predict the unexpected and detrimental effects of drugs on human health, particularly in major organs.

The competition forms part of the ‘NC3Rs CRACK IT Challenges’, which were established to fund collaborative R&D to deliver products or services for the bioscience sector to revise their use of animals.

As of 2020, there were just over 2,000 experiments taking place in the UK which used dogs as part of their testing. Currently, regulation requires drugs to be tested in two species to monitor for issues: a rodent, such as a rat, followed by a non-rodent, such as a dog. However, thus method does not always convey the adverse effect that will happen in humans, leading to wasted animal lives, time, and money.

The NC3Rs is using the konfer platform, developed by the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB) to reach out to research and innovation partners across the UK. This technology has enabled the organisation to develop research and innovation partnerships with universities and across the innovation ecosystem.

Dr Anthony Holmes, director of Science and Technology at the NC3Rs: “We are excited to be using konfer to connect with the UK’s leading innovators and academics. As we seek to shift the paradigm of the use of dogs in drug testing, we’re keen to make use of the large amounts of dog study data within pharmaceutical companies to create a virtual dog to determine drug toxicities. Konfer’s smart-matching technology offers a speedy, cost-effective route to collaboration, and we look forward to working alongside the UK’s brightest minds to tackle an acute issue in drug development.”

Dr Joe Marshall, chief executive officer at NCUB: “As the government pursue their vision of making the UK a global hub for innovation by 2035, it is important that we simplify collaboration between universities and businesses. The NC3Rs ‘Virtual Second Species’ Challenge is a prime example of meaningful and game-changing innovation, addressing the major matter of animal testing that continues to persist even today.

It is our hope that by making it easier for organisations such as the NC3Rs and academics to find each other, we can facilitate the creation of productive, innovative and of course, meaningful coalitions that will improve lives.”

The competition is being delivered in partnership with eTransafe – an Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) collaboration – and Simomics, supported by sponsors Bayer AG, Eli Lilly and Company, Genentech, Gilead Sciences, GSK, Merck Healthcare KGaA and Roche.