Complement Animal Research In Experimentation (Complement-ARIE)

Complement-ARIE — Open Funding (Seed)

Supports development of human-based new approach methodologies replacing animal models in relevant research.

Complement-ARIE (Complement Animal Research In Experimentation) is an NIH Common Fund program approved by the NIH Council of Councils on January 25, 2024. Its mission is to accelerate the development, standardization, validation, and deployment of human-based New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) — laboratory and computational approaches intended to more accurately model human biology and to complement or replace traditional animal models in biomedical and drug research. FY2026 is the program's first full-funding year, with a $39.928 million budget allocation. The total initial NIH investment in Complement-ARIE is approximately $150 million.

The program operates through four interconnected components: technology development projects and centers that build NAMs addressing biological complexity and high-throughput needs; a Data and NAM Resource Coordinating Center providing integrated data infrastructure and a searchable NAMs repository; the Validation and Qualification Network (VQN) — a public-private partnership managed by the Foundation for NIH with 40+ member organizations — to accelerate regulatory approval of new NAMs; and community engagement and training activities. A $7 million Reduction to Practice Prize, run via HeroX platform, is actively open alongside a previously awarded $1 million crowdsourcing prize. The FDA announced in April 2025 a plan to phase out animal testing for monoclonal antibodies in closer collaboration with Complement-ARIE.

Eligible applicants include U.S. universities, nonprofit organizations, for-profit companies, and research organizations; individual applicants are not eligible. Specific Funding Opportunity Announcements should be checked at commonfund.nih.gov/complementarie, as deadlines vary by component. Contact: complement-arie@od.nih.gov. Organizations with capabilities in organ-on-a-chip systems, computational toxicology, high-throughput assay development, or regulatory science are among the strongest candidates for technology development and VQN participation awards.