Press release

Published: 07 August 2024

Horseshoe crabs still suffer for testing of medical products

Annually, around 550,000 horseshoe crabs are caught along the East Coast of the USA to draw up to 30% of their blue blood. Many animals do not survive the agonizing procedure. Their blood is used for testing medical products and injectable solutions, even though a non-animal method has been available for 25 years and which is even superior. Now, this synthetic method has finally been approved by the United States Pharmacopeia (1). In the European Union, the so-called rFC test has already been approved. However, the European Pharmacopeia still permits the horseshoe crab test. The German association Doctors Against Animal Experiments is calling for its deletion from the European Pharmacopeia

The horseshoe crab has existed on earth for 400 million years. Now it is threatened by the profit of a multi-billion-dollar industry that uses its blood. The animals are caught in the ocean, transported to factories, and strapped onto shelves where a needle is inserted into their hearts. The blood is collected and processed into the Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) test, which detects certain pyrogens—substances that can cause fever or sepsis in humans. Until now, the LAL test has been mandatory in the US Pharmacopeia for products introduced into the human body (such as vaccines, injectable solutions, or implants).

The so-called rFC test, which replicates the LAL test using synthetically produced materials, has been available for around 25 years. It leads to more accurate results and does not require animals to suffer and die (2). Now, this test has finally been accepted by the US Pharmacopeia (3).

“This will also impact the German and European market. Until now, manufacturers who wanted to market their medical products or injectable solutions in the USA had to test their products using the blood-based LAL test. Hopefully, this will soon change,” explains Dr. Johanna Walter, scientific advisor at Doctors Against Animal Experiments.

In the European Pharmacopeia, the rFC test has been allowed as an 'alternative' to the LAL test since 2018. “However, as long as the test using horseshoe crab blood remains included in the pharmacopeia, it will continue to be used. Additionally, for each product a complex validation is required in order to be permitted to use the alternative test,” Walter continues.

Doctors Against Animal Experiments therefore calls for the immediate deletion of the LAL test from the European Pharmacopeia and a completely animal-free pyrogen testing. Recently, the rabbit pyrogen test was deleted from the European Pharmacopeia (4). “This must also be possible for the test using horseshoe crab blood,” demands Walter. To emphasize this demand, the association has launched the campaign 'Agony in the Blood Factory - Stop the Suffering of Horseshoe Crabs!', in which citizens can lend their voice to the horseshoe crabs via an online petition.