Exploring the relationship between the societal impact of EU-funded biomedical research in selected disease areas and the use of animal and non-animal based approaches

Over the past two decades, significant investments have been made to support basic and applied research in the areas of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), breast cancer (BC) and prostate cancer (PC), which, to date, remain highly prevalent diseases. Retrospectively assessing what major scientific outputs were generated in the context of EU-funded research on these disease areas, and whether these outputs translated into outcomes with societal impact, has been the subject of a recent retrospective analysis carried out by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission. In this follow-up analysis, we further explored what methodological approaches (i.e., animal and/or non-animal models and methods) were employed in projects on AD, BC and PC research funded under the past EU framework programmes (FP5, FP6, FP7 and H2020), and considered the major research outputs associated with them. The findings reveal a prevalence of animal-based approaches in AD research, with an upsurge in animal use specifically under H2020-funded projects. Notably, projects focusing on drug development, testing, or repurposing leaned heavily on animal models. Conversely, research targeting, clinical trial design, patient stratification, diagnosis and diagnostic tool development, lifestyle interventions, and prevention, primarily utilised non-animal methods. Cutting-edge investigations involving imaging, computational tools and organ/tissue chip technologies and biomarker discovery predominantly relied on non-animal strategies. These insights underscore the correlation between methodological choices and research outcomes with translational potential, advocating for a reconsideration of research strategy planning in forthcoming framework programmes.