Reducing Non-Human Primates in Non-Clinical Safety Assessment:
The European Initiative on Minipig and Micropig Models
Non-human primates remain essential in the safety testing of new drug candidates, as their genetic, biological, and behavioural similarities to humans provide critical insights into the safety, efficacy, and potential side effects of these drugs. The EU Directive 2010/63/EU underlines the importance of ethical animal research, encouraging for the replacement, reduction, and refinement of animal use while acknowledging that certain complexities of human biology can only be effectively studied in non-human primates.
Our Mission.
NHPig is an EU-funded research project aimed at transforming non-clinical safety assessment by use of mini- and micropig models. The goal is to expand and share biological knowledge on mini- and micropig models and improve the translational understanding between pig models and non-human primates (NHPs) and humans with the possibility to use these pig models as viable alternatives to NHPs in the nonclinical safety testing.
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partners
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Meet the consortium.
NHPig is a 5-year European public-private partnership backed by €17.5 million in funding from the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking and contributing private industry partners. The project consortium brings together leading international experts from 27 partner organisations led by the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Germany) and Novo Nordisk A/S (Denmark).
Latest News.
NHPig poster presented at the IHI Forum 2026
The IHI Forum 2026 took place in Brussels, Belgium, on 20-21 October under the theme "Translating research into long-term impact". NHPig was represented in the Early Career Researchers' poster session by Larissa Oser (Technical University of Munich, TUM), who...
NHPig holds its Second Annual Consortium Meeting in Vienna
The NHPig consortium held its second Annual Consortium Meeting in Vienna on 17–18 September 2026, bringing together project partners to review progress, discuss achievements and address ongoing challenges across the work packages. The two-day meeting featured...
NHPig outreach event introduces the project and its research in Vienna
On 17 September 2026, the NHPig consortium organised an open public outreach event entitled “Introducing NHPig” at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria. The event brought together researchers, students, early-career scientists and other stakeholders...
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Funding acknowledgement
This project is supported by the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking (IHI JU) under grant agreement No 101165643. The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme and COCIR, EFPIA, Vaccines Europe, EuropaBio and MedTech Europe and Breakthrough T1D and VeriSIM Life.
Funding acknowledgement
This project is supported by the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking (IHI JU) under grant agreement No 101165643. The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme and COCIR, EFPIA, Vaccines Europe, EuropaBio and MedTech Europe and Breakthrough T1D and VeriSIM Life.