Non-Animal New Approach Methodologies (NAMs): More effective, more ethical and more economically productive

In November 2025, the Government published its Replacing animals in science strategy. It stated that it will ‘create a revolutionary research and innovation system that replaces animals with alternative methods wherever possible’, bringing ‘clear benefits for animal welfare and a host of economic and scientific impacts. Commissioned by Lush, this business case identifies some of those benefits by examining the UK’s Non-Animal New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) sector. NAMs refer to ‘full and partial replacement approaches for assessing chemical or drug toxicity data’ compared to animal-based methods.

Our economic assessment of the commercial sector using Companies House and Annual Business Survey data finds that from 2021-24:

Turnover (from £947 million to £1.24 billion) and GVA (from £212 to £277 million) both grew by the equivalent of 9.4% per year.
Employee numbers grew by 12.8% per year (CAGR), from 4,209 to 6,037.
Overall cost of employment grew by 8.4% per year, from £374 to £477 million.
Activity by registered office is concentrated in the East of England (2024 – GVA, turnover: 38.3%; employment: 36.1%) and South East (GVA, turnover: 34.7%; employment: 20.5%).

Under existing trajectories, we project that between 2024 and 2030:

Turnover (to £2.12 billion) and GVA (to £473 million) will increase by 71.1%.
Employee numbers will more than double (+105.7%) to 12,419.
Total employment costs will rise by almost two thirds (62.3%) to £774 million.
Cost per employee will fall more than a fifth (-21.1%) from £88,922 to £62,299.

NAMs funding in 2019 was just £2 million compared with up to £1.1 billion for research involving animals. Redirecting a modest proportion of the total should have a very large and positive impact on the sector and technologies. An extra £100 million would approach the scale of the Netherlands Government’s Ombion Centre for Animal-Free Biomedical Translation funding. Productivity gains from that investment could result in additional tax take of £248 million over 7 years.

It should be noted that the main assumptions in our calculations are based on tracking existing sector growth. However, as indicated above, we know that government policy in the US, EU, UK and many other nations is rapidly moving in the direction of phasing out animal testing and requiring that NAMs take its place. It is also worth noting that this transition is necessarily creating a fast-growing prospective export markets for UK NAMs companies. Although we cannot put a number on the likely impact of this regulatory change, it does mean that even our upper estimates could be conservative.

Based on these findings, the Government should consider the following measures to build on their November 2025 strategy:

Increase public funding for NAMs companies, research bodies and HE research groups. Specific channels could include: a) Further dedicated funding via UKRI and Innovate UK. b) Tax reliefs and incentives for companies developing NAMs. c) Public procurement policies, including through the NHS, favouring NAMs-validated products. d) Support for life sciences sector companies and organisations to transition to NAMs.
Establish a legally binding date for a ban on all animal testing to create a time horizon for the sector to develop NAMs that meet current and projected needs, in line with approaches for the Net Zero transition.
Distribute funding across the country to encourage development of NAM companies, research groups and HE institutions in each region.
Specifically support skills development in partnership with NAM companies and research groups receiving public funding. Given a projected a 133,000 skilled-worker shortfall by 2030, including research and development scientists, data science and informatics, bioprocessing specialists, regulatory professionals and clinical experts, there is a need to ensure that development is encouraged in all regions.
Accelerate regulatory modernisation through the UK Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (UKCVAM) and the associated cross-sector network of public and private laboratories. This should support international collaboration and leadership in line with the Government’s November 2025 strategy.
Create a regularly updated database of NAM companies in order to facilitate analysis. Companies House data is difficult to access and analyse due to a lack of standardisation and data for smaller companies. Broader reform would enable much greater accuracy in identifying and assessing developing, high-growth sectors that the Government must focus on in order to achieve the Prime Minister’s Mission of Kickstarting Economic Growth.