The Consortium coordinated financial support provided by PETA Foundation UK and PETA Germany for the validation of a non-animal method to assess skin sensitisation. The current test using mice or guinea pigs uses tens of thousands of animals in the EU each year and is estimated to use hundreds of thousands worldwide. This was the first time an animal rights organisation had supported the validation process for an alternative method in this way.
The SenCeeTox® skin sensitisation assay replaces two dermal sensitisation tests that cause the guinea pigs or mice used in the tests a great deal of suffering. The results obtained with the SenCeeTox® assay also provide additional information, such as potency.