New insulin test spares animals

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine said Wednesday it has developed the world's first "cruelty-free" insulin test that does not use animals.

The test, which replaces a procedure that used fetal calf serum, was developed as part of the organization's ongoing clinical trials of a vegan diet on patients with type 2 diabetes.

PCRM research analyst Megha Even worked with Emoryville, Calif., lab BiosPacific to culture cells using an animal-free peptide. Even then worked with Linco Research of St. Charles, Mo., to incorporate antibodies for a human insulin test kit.

The physician's group said the result is the world's first "cruelty-free" insulin test.

"We hope that by making the test readily available and competitively priced, researchers and medical labs will use it," said PCRM President Neal Barnard. "We have proven that if researchers are willing to make the effort, there are effective, humane alternatives to animal-based assays and other testing procedures -- alternatives that could help save the lives of millions of people and animals."

An estimated 194 million people suffer from diabetes worldwide, 15 million of those in the United States, researchers said.