Dr Carol Treasure

At XCellR8, we don’t just pay lip service to animal welfare. Our commitment to replace animal testing with scientifically and ethically better science has been in our DNA since day one and remains at the core of our mission. We have never done, and never will do, any animal testing, and we’re the only commercial lab in the world to eradicate all animal-derived components from our tests, making us the world’s first 100% cruelty-free testing partner. When you work with us, you’re a part of the wider XCellR8 family and helping us to work for the greater good, towards a society kinder to animals, humans and our precious planet.

Here’s what we’ve been up to over the past few months, outside of the lab:

We contributed to a wonderful roundtable event arranged by the Humanimal Trust and chaired by Professor Noel Fitzpatrick (as in the Channel 4 series the Supervet). We talked about ways in which stakeholders can collaborate more to enable animals and humans to benefit from the One Medicine framework. It’s a crazy situation that animals are used to test human medicines and surgical procedures, but the benefits don’t currently flow back into veterinary science. That needs to change.

We took part in a Parliamentary roundtable event, organised by our friends at Animal Aid and chaired by MP and campaigner Carolyn Harris. The discussion focussed on where we are, on the UK journey to phase out animal testing in line with the Labour Government’s manifesto pledge, and with a strategy due to be published on the topic very soon. The focus was on the widely discredited LD50 type tests for acute toxicity, and how they should be considered the “low hanging fruit” in terms of phasing out animal testing, given the availability of better science through a combination of in silico and in vitro approaches including XCellR8’s AcutoX. We talked about the importance of public support in terms of putting pressure on those in politics to drive the necessary change, and how can we as the UK bring our scientists, regulators and campaigners together to make us a world leader in human-relevant science. It was wonderful to see our great friend of XCellR8, singer Will Young, supporting this event to raise the profile and add the all-important celebrity voice to the conversation, along with actor Diane Morgan.

At the Parliamentary Roundtable Discussion about ending LD50 tests in London in July. Clockwise from top left: Jessamy Korotoga (Animal Aid); Diane Morgan (actress); Iain Green (Animal Aid); Will Young (singer); Carol Treasure (XCellR8); Hilary Jones (Lush); Ru Fletcher (Lush); Lindsay Marshall (Humane World for Animals); Carolyn Harris MP, Rebecca Ram (Lush Prize); Karl Bygrave (Lush).

We contributed to a workshop held in the lovely location of Loch Lomond in Scotland, organised by the Animal Free Safety Assessment (AFSA) collaboration, to define a strategy for global regulatory change to phase out animal testing for acute and local toxicity endpoints for chemicals. Dr Tom Ward represented XCellR8 at the event and contributed his expertise on regulatory in vitro toxicity testing using our human cell-based assay for acute oral toxicity, AcutoX.

We also exhibited at the annual conference of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists and enjoyed connecting with so many colleagues across the cosmetics industry, from suppliers of the latest novel ingredients to formulators from leading brands.

SCS conference – Carol and Tom at our exhibition booth at the SCS conference.

Contact us if you’d like to learn how you can support our mission, become a corporate sponsor or donate to our crowdfunder.