Northumbria researchers provide economic evidence base for shift away from animal testing

New research commissioned by Lush shows the UK's non-animal methods sector grew to more than £1.2 billion in turnover and has been cited by a leading parliamentary advocate for reform.

Researchers at Northumbria University have produced new economic evidence demonstrating the significant and growing commercial value of alternatives to animal testing in the UK, with findings already featuring in parliamentary debate on the issue.

The study, commissioned by cosmetics company Lush and conducted by the Common Sense Policy Group, based in Northumbria's School of Communities and Education, analysed data from 75 UK firms operating in the Non-Animal New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) sector between 2021 and 2024. It found that sector turnover grew from £947 million to more than £1.2 billion over the period, with employment rising by nearly 13% per year.

The research projects that, under existing growth rates, the NAMs sector could reach £2.12 billion in turnover and employ more than 12,000 people by 2030. The paper, co-authored by Professor Elliott Johnson, Professor Howard Reed, Anna Thew and Professor Matthew Johnson, also estimates that an additional £100 million in public investment could generate £248 million in tax returns to the Exchequer within seven years.

The findings have already attracted attention at Westminster. In a recent opinion piece published following a parliamentary debate on the topic, Irene Campbell MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Phasing Out Animal Experiments in Medical Research, cited the research as providing the economic evidence base to support the ethical argument for transitioning away from animal testing.

Lead author, Professor Elliott Johnson said: “This research makes clear that the NAMs sector is not a niche concern — it is a fast-growing part of the UK economy with real potential to deliver significant returns on public investment. The evidence now exists to back bold and ethical policy decisions. What this research shows is that the ethical case and the economic case for moving away from animal testing point in the same direction. We hope this gives policymakers, funders and industry the up-to-date evidence they need to accelerate the transition with confidence."

Co-author Professor Howard Reed added: “As a policy research group, our purpose is to produce evidence that informs real decisions. We know the UK has genuine strengths in the NAMs sector in terms of world-class universities, a major pharmaceutical sector and an independent regulatory role. This research suggests that with the right investment, those advantages can be turned into global leadership in a rapidly expanding field.”

The paper, recently published in the NAM Journal, contextualises its economic findings within the growing scientific evidence on the limitations of animal-based preclinical testing. It notes that around nine in ten new drug candidates fail in clinical trials despite passing animal-based preclinical stages, and highlights examples where NAM technologies are already outperforming existing methods. Among the examples is Liver-Chip technology, which correctly identified 87% of drugs found to cause liver injury in patients.

The authors argue that the UK is well-positioned to become a global leader in this field, but warn that chronic underfunding — public investment in NAMs stood at just £2 million in 2019 compared with up to £1.1 billion for animal-based research — risks ceding ground to international competitors. The Netherlands, for example, has committed €245 million through its National Growth Fund to animal-free biomedical translation.

The research calls on the Government to build on its November 2025 Replacing Animals in Sciencestrategy with increased investment targeted at both scaling existing validated technologies and developing new approaches for areas where animal-free alternatives do not yet exist.

Karl Bygrave, Director Lush Cosmetics, said: “Through the Lush Prize we have seen the extraordinary scientific advances that can be achieved when investment is made in non-animal research. The new science is very exciting and highlights the opportunity in regulatory toxicology as well as disease and drug development. This is a new frontier that the UK should be at the forefront of to both benefit the economy and the health and wellbeing of society as a whole. This report highlights the opportunity for the Government to provide both leadership and finance to put the UK at the cutting edge of human relevant science and grow the economy.”

FURTHER INFORMATION:

Read the full report and find out more about research by the Common Sense Policy Group online at commonsense.northumbria.ac.uk

Non-animal new approach methodologies (NAMs): Increasingly effective in validated contexts, more ethical and more economically productive was published in the NAM Journal.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.namjnl.2026.100102

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