A Bill to make provision about the evaluation of methods of testing the safety of medicines; and for connected purposes.
The Bill proposes the establishment of a Medicines Safety Evaluation Panel to compare the effectiveness of human biology-based tests and animal-based tests in assessing the safety of medicines and drugs. The panel would be required to report within two years and would have full access to all relevant records held by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.
House of Commons
26 October 2009
This bill would create a Medicines Safety Evaluation Panel to compare how well tests based on human biology work versus traditional animal tests in assessing medicine safety. The panel would report its findings within two years and would have full access to relevant MHRA records to inform safety testing decisions. The goal is to improve safety assessments and reduce unnecessary animal testing where possible.
The bill is currently at the second reading in the House of Commons; if it progresses, it would move to committee stage and subsequent readings in due course.
Generated 21 February 2026
This Bill was presented to Parliament on 26 January. This is known as First Reading and there was no debate on the Bill at this stage.
This Bill was on the Order Paper for a Second Reading on several Fridays before being dropped by its sponsor, Dr Ian Gibson.
No recorded votes for this bill yet.
