Clinical Notes: NIH Scales Back on Using Chimps

NIH Further Restricts Chimp Research

National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD, said the agency would put an end to most use of chimpanzees in medical research, tightening restrictions put in place in 2011.

Henceforth, NIH-funded research on chimpanzees can only be performed on a non-breeding group of 50, Collins announced last week, signalling an eventual end to all such research. Other chimps in NIH-sponsored facilities will be moved into federal sanctuaries.