A controversial animal experiment has been a thing of the past since the beginning of the year: the European Pharmacopoeia Commission has removed the pyrogen test on rabbits from its regulations. The German Animal Welfare Federation welcomes the decision. Laboratories throughout the EU are now no longer allowed to perform this test to test drugs. Animal-free methods have been available for a long time.
"The pyrogen test has been an agonizing ordeal for thousands of rabbits in Germany over the past decades. Restrained in cramped cages, the animals had to remain motionless for hours while test substances were injected into them. They could neither eat, drink, nor interact with other rabbits. This was extremely stressful for the animals, both physically and psychologically," says Tilo Weber, specialist advisor for animal-free science at the German Animal Welfare Federation.
HOURS OF SUFFERING FOR THE ANIMALS
For the pyrogen test, rabbits were measured with an anal thermometer to determine how much their body temperature changed after a test substance was injected into their ear vein. The sensitive flight animals had to remain immobilized for several hours, completely unable to move. Some animals developed painful vein thickening after repeated tests, while others suffered from fever, breathing difficulties, or circulatory failure.
ANIMAL-FREE METHODS HAVE BEEN AVAILABLE FOR YEARS
The German Animal Welfare Federation finds it incomprehensible that the rabbit pyrogen test has only been banned since the beginning of 2026, as animal-free methods have been available for a long time: The monocyte activation test, which uses human blood cells in a test tube and requires only one milliliter of blood, was already recognized as an alternative testing method in 2010. It is not only ethically acceptable, but also scientifically reliable: the results are more accurate and can be better transferred to humans. In addition, the method is more cost-effective and time-saving. “It is incomprehensible why this animal-free test has not been used across the board for years, even though it has been available for 15 years,” says Weber. “The systematic delay in implementing animal-free methods shows how sluggish the system is in science and the pharmaceutical industry.”
The German Animal Welfare Federation is calling for barriers to animal-free methods to be consistently removed and for significantly more research funding to be made available for their development.
Note to editors: Further information on animal-free research and current developments in the field of animal welfare can be found at: www.tierschutzbund.de/tiere-themen/tierversuche.
