Big Pharma’s big problem: Animal testing
By Easton Martin | November 19, 2025
A new watchdog investigation by the White Coat Waste Project indicates that the National Institutes of Health has continued funding dog experiments through a series of grants and contracts issued over the past two years.
While the agency has not released a centralized summary of its support for canine research, documents obtained through public federal spending databases and Freedom of Information Act requests provide a clearer picture of how taxpayer dollars are being used.
According to data compiled by the White Coat Waste Project, NIH has awarded more than 24 million dollars in new grants to pharmaceutical companies for studies that involve the use of dogs. Those grants represent roughly twenty two newly issued awards that involve canine testing. In addition to the new funding, watchdogs say NIH extended pre-existing grants and contracts tied to dog laboratories worth a combined seventy two million dollars. These figures come from federal spending records and grant numbers obtained through FOIA requests.
Separate documents show NIH support for dog experiments taking place at several universities. Records from the University of Utah describe nearly 12 million dollars in NIH funding for cardiovascular research involving about 180 dogs, most of them young hounds. The protocols include blocked arteries, pacemaker or electrode implantation, and terminal heart removals. Another set of records details an internal NIH laboratory that conducted septic shock experiments on beagles. That program used dogs purchased from commercial breeders and, according to watchdogs, was shut down earlier this year.
Broader historical analyses from animal welfare researchers indicate that NIH has funded more than 200 million dollars in dog based studies since the mid 2010s. Much of that funding went to private companies conducting preclinical drug development. FDA rules do not always require dog testing for drug approval, which has prompted new scrutiny over whether these projects are necessary.
Read more here: https://blog.whitecoatwaste.org/2025/09/26/wcw-investigation-bhattacharyas-nih-doles-out-24m-to-pharma-cos-for-dog-testing/
