Starting January 1, 2026, pharmaceutical companies in Europe will no longer be allowed to use rabbit testing to check if medicines are safe from fever-causing impurities. Instead, they must switch to modern, animal-free testing methods like the monocyte-activation test or the bacterial endotoxins test (BET). These tests are safer, more reliable, and better for the environment because they don’t rely on animals like horseshoe crabs, whose blood is currently used to detect contamination. The European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur.), which sets the official standards for medicines in Europe, has already approved several of these new testing methods, including a test called recombinant Factor C (rFC). This test has been included in the latest edition of the Ph. Eur. and is now one of seven accepted alternatives for detecting bacterial toxins. While another advanced technology called recombinant Cascade Reagents (rCR) is not yet officially approved, the European Pharmacopoeia Commission (EPC) is encouraging drug manufacturers to gather data on its use so it can be considered in the future. To help companies understand these changes, the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (EDQM) and the European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA) are hosting a free online symposium in February. This meeting will explain the transition plan and how the industry can adopt these new methods globally. In addition to updating its testing standards, the Ph. Eur. is also improving its guidelines for critical medicines. Last month, it published its first official standard for a monoclonal antibody medicine called Golimumab injection, which will be enforced starting April 1. This new guideline will help ensure that these important medicines are safe and effective for patients.