Digital Future Daily

Enter silicon. The agency said on Thursday that it will phase out using animals to test certain therapies, in many ways fulfilling the ambitions of the FDA Modernization Act 2.0.

To replace animal testing, the FDA will explore using computer modeling and AI to predict how a drug will behave in humans — and its roadmap cites a wide variety of technologies, from AI simulations to “organ-on-a-chip” drug-testing devices. (For the uninitiated, organ-on-a-chip refers to testing done on lab-grown mini-tissues that replicate human physiology.)

The FDA’s plan to integrate digital tools into a field that’s long been defined by wet lab work marks a substantial change.