The Fukushima startup bringing a welfare perspective to animal testing
Animal testing has long served as the foundation of modern medicine, with the age-old practice said to have become widespread in the 19th century. It remains essential for verifying the efficacy of pharmaceuticals and vaccines, understanding disease mechanisms, and developing new treatments and preventive measures.Globally, experiments using animals such as mice and rats are believed to be carried out more than 700 million times a year. However, since these experiments often involve failures and cause distress to the animals, there is a growing push to explore alternative testing methods that take animal welfare into account.Naoyuki Kayamoto, 47, is a leading figure in Japan in such efforts. In June 2016, he founded Hundred, a medical device startup in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, that produces laboratory instruments designed to cause less stress to animals during experiments.
