Paul’s FDA Modernization Act 2.0 won President Biden’s signature last December, but the senator isn’t sounding happy with the progress so far – asking the agency on X, formerly known as Twitter, “What’s the delay?”
The law eliminated the requirement that drugs in development must undergo testing in animals before being given to participants in human trials, with Paul arguing the mandatory rules were outdated and written long before modern blood tests, computers, and genome sequencing, among other tools, were available.
In 2022, when arguing for the law, Paul said, "The law perversely requires drug developers to test on animals, which often means killing them after the test is over, even when non-animal methods would work better. Passing this bill will put a stop to the needless suffering and death of animals in labs across the country."
While passed into law and applauded by animal rights advocates, at the time companies were also cautioned to be aware of the limitations of the new technologies, with some maintaining the combination of human and animal testing remained the best way to ensure safety.
Now, the law’s supporters are saying the FDA has been delinquent in not following the directives of Congress and revamping its regulations relating to animal testing.
Five Republicans, including Paul, and four Democrats in the U.S. Senate signed a new letter to the FDA commissioner pushing for action.
