Something we don’t talk about often enough here at Replacing Animal Research is how proud we have been to be co-Chairing the Alliance for Human Relevant Science for the past few years. 

What do we mean by human-relevant science?

Human-relevant science encompasses any method that uses, as its starting point, the cells, functions and processes of the target species, humans. It can encompass 2D and 3D cell culture work using human cells and tissues, in silico modelling based on human data sets, safety and efficacy studies using microdosing with human volunteers, as well as organ-on-a-chip and organoids designed to replicate the functions of human tissues and organs. 

Why does it matter?

There are a number of issues with using animals to study human disease mechanisms and treatment pathways, which can be addressed by human relevant science.

Scientific Limitations:

Physiological differences between species can limit the applicability of animal data to human conditions. As an example I recently spoke to a cardiology researcher talking about how the human heart beats 60-70 times per minute whilst the mouse heart beats 500-700 times per minute and the impact this has on the relevance of findings in their research, despite a longstanding belief that the developmental anatomy of the mouse and human heart are similar enough (very similar chamber structure, similar sequencing of processes) for mice to be considered valid ‘models’ for humans.

Translational Gaps:

Many breakthroughs in potential treatment efficacy observed in animal studies don’t work the same when it comes to human clinical trials. In addition we do not know how many potential therapeutic compounds which might prove to be safe and effective in humans are discarded because of being ineffective in animals. Someone joked to me once that if chocolate had had to be tested in dogs first, it would be banned, and she’d be a lot slimmer! This issue of translation potentially leads to delays in new treatments becoming available and increased costs in developing effective therapies. To give you a sense of scale, adverse drug reactions cause over 10,000 deaths annually, and drug development takes around 10-20 years and costs an average of $2.6 billion pre-approval.

Ethical Concerns:

The use of animals in research raises ethical questions regarding their welfare and the moral implications of their use for many scientists and members of the public.

I need to take a moment to be honest and clear here, though. Many human-relevant methods are still being developed and tested. They are new, and science is slow and thorough.

In addition, we still do not understand many basic physiological and disease processes in our own bodies to know how to try to replicate them in a microphysiological system, for example. This is not a silver bullet, but it is where the issue crosses over from being scientific to political – the emergent evidence is growing that where it is possible to use human-relevant methods, these much better replicate the outcomes we actually see in human clinical populations. We and many others therefore believe that much larger proportions of funding should be directed into improving, developing, extending and testing these models, to unlock their potential benefits. It is a risk.

To caricature it is asking funders to choose something which is perhaps untested but has the potential to be 100% effective, over continuing to fund something which is known to be, let’s generously say, 75% accurate. It is taking a step back to be able to go much, much further forward.

What is the Alliance for Human-Relevant Science?

And this is why we need to advocate for human-relevant science. We need those involved in this research to be shouting from the rooftops about how much can be accomplished, to shift the emphasis for biomedical funding. It’s starting, but we can do more.

The Alliance for Human-Relevant Science is a voluntary collaboration of scientists, companies, and NGOs aiming to do exactly that – to promote the amazing research happening in the UK and the dynamic commercial sector supplying and supporting it. It was launched in the UK Parliament in 2017. Membership is free and open to individuals and companies focused on human-relevant research. The Alliance is a grass-roots collective which operates collaboratively with monthly meetings and member-led projects.

Vision: Achieve public health improvement through human-relevant research and testing.

Purpose: Promote the development and use of human-relevant medical research and testing.

Mission: Enhance awareness and understanding of human-focused tools and therapies, increase their acceptance, and promote their development and use by the scientific community, industry, and regulators to improve public health.

…and what’s it achieved?

The Alliance has engaged 21 MPs across parties, produced 2 seminal reports, involved 14 organisations, and hosted 6 webinars reaching nearly 550 people, contributing to advancing human-relevant research and regulatory discussions. Its most recent paper “Frontiers in Drug Discovery: How complex in vitro models are addressing the challenges of predicting drug-induced liver injury”

From 2020-2022, the Alliance supported the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Human-relevant science, which gathered evidence from a range of stakeholders over 12 meetings. The APPG report ‘Bringing Back the Human: Transitioning from Animal Research to Human Relevant Science in the UK’ can be found on the website www.humanrelevantscience.org.uk.

Grassroots challenges

Having worked to change practice in a number of sectors, I firmly believe that it is critical to have bottom-up advocacy. Those actually doing the work need to lead. However, grassroots activity is frequently beset by issues, and the Alliance is no different. Scale of ambition not matched by available resources, internal discussion focusing on structure rather than action, and trying things that just for whatever reason don’t work are a few challenges that we’ve experienced. The current structure, whereby the NGO members provide the ongoing administrative structure and deliver the activity, with the scientific and commercial members driving the direction, is one that seems to be working well, and the Alliance is steadily growing.

A bright future

And we have some exciting activities lined up.

This Autumn, we will be holding a showcase event in Westminster for parliamentarians. This will highlight some of the amazing research being done by scientists using human-relevant methods, as well as the brilliant SMEs we have here in the UK supporting the field here and around the world. It will be a fantastic opportunity for those doing the work to talk directly to those making the decisions and discuss issues around funding, regulation, incentives, and what would make it easier for us to progress further, faster.

Following that, we have a free two-day Royal Society Science Plus event in London on “A Human focus for 21st Century Life Sciences” from 3-4 February 2026. Registration is open and the event is free of charge, with a lineup of excellent global leaders in the field, so I hope you will join us there.

The Alliance works because the people involved in it care about what happens in this space. Companies want to grow and be heard and seen, scientists want to create a bigger impact and influence change beyond the lab. We’ve got so much to do, and we need all hands on deck, so if the Alliance’s purpose resonates with you, then get in touch to get involved!

You can do as much or as little as you are able, but every new member strengthens the voice of the sector, and together I know we can shout much louder!