Innovate UK announces £2 million funding competition to accelerate development of non-animal models for pre-clinical studies

Despite highly promising pre-clinical results, many clinical candidates fail when they enter into clinical trials in human populations, and ultimately never make it to market. The reasons for this are multi-faceted, but one area of consideration is the relevance of animal models that have been widely used in pre-clinical studies for decades. Can a non-human model really be predictive of the complex biological pathways underpinning a particular disease in an entirely distinct species? There are, of course, important ethical considerations too that surround the use of animal models in pre-clinical studies. For these reasons amongst others, the UK government is focused on reducing the use of animal models in UK drug development. 

Under the “Innovate UK Contracts for Innovation” programme, Innovate UK have announced a funding pot of £2 million to incentivize UK-based research into ethical alternatives to animal models, and in particular, into improved pharmacokinetic and cardiac safety studies. Details of the competition, which opens on 2 March 2026, can be found here and here. The competition is in two phases - the first phase is evaluation of the technical and commercial feasibility of the proposed alternative model. The number of applicants is expected to be high, and the overall number of companies that can successfully share in the funding pot for the first phase appears to be capped at twelve (with individual awards of up to £200, 000). The second phase is dependent on the success of the first phase, and will take the most promising projects forward for further development, with a preliminary pot of up to £6 million earmarked. 

The call for applicant companies is a broad church, ranging from AI-assisted prediction models through to in vitro assays, organoid models and lab-on-chip devices. For interested eligible companies, a briefing event is being held on 4 March 2026, as well as a workshop on 10  March (see here for registration links).