Stakeholders cooperation
Discover how ONTOX engages with various stakeholders to advance animal-free safety assessment
About stakeholders
Building bridges between science, regulation, and practice
ONTOX engages a wide range of stakeholders from regulatory authorities, industry, academia, and non-governmental organisations.
Their input ensures that ONTOX tools and methods are relevant, practical, and aligned with real-world safety assessment needs.
By sharing expertise and feedback, stakeholders help translate ONTOX’s scientific innovations into approaches ready for regulatory and industrial use — driving the vision of animal-free next-generation risk assessment (NGRA) towards implementation.
Stakeholders Network Meeting
The first ONTOX Stakeholder Network Meeting took place on 21 November 2023 in Brussels, Belgium. The event gathered experts from regulatory, academic, and industrial communities to discuss ONTOX’s progress and explore how non-animal approaches can support regulatory decision-making.
Participants exchanged ideas on the practical application of ONTOX tools and identified opportunities for collaboration in advancing NGRA.
Report from the meeting
Outcomes of the meeting were summarised in a publication entitled “Towards the next generation of chemical risk assessment: Insights from the ONTOX Stakeholder Network Meeting“, published in Toxicology in Vitro (2023).
The report captures stakeholders’ perspectives on implementing non-animal methods and provides recommendations to foster regulatory and societal acceptance of NGRA.
Report of the First ONTOX Stakeholder Network Meeting: Digging Under the Surface of ONTOX Together With the Stakeholders
Diemar M.G., Vinken M., Teunis M., et al.
Alternatives to Laboratory Animals | January 2024
ABSTRACT
The first Stakeholder Network Meeting of the EU Horizon 2020-funded ONTOX project was held on 13–14 March 2023, in Brussels, Belgium. The discussion centred around identifying specific challenges, barriers and drivers in relation to the implementation of non-animal new approach methodologies (NAMs) and probabilistic risk assessment (PRA), in order to help address the issues and rank them according to their associated level of difficulty. ONTOX aims to advance the assessment of chemical risk to humans, without the use of animal testing, by developing non-animal NAMs and PRA in line with 21st century toxicity testing principles. Stakeholder groups (regulatory authorities, companies, academia, non-governmental organisations) were identified and invited to participate in a meeting and a survey, by which their current position in relation to the implementation of NAMs and PRA was ascertained, as well as specific challenges and drivers highlighted. The survey analysis revealed areas of agreement and disagreement among stakeholders on topics such as capacity building, sustainability, regulatory acceptance, validation of adverse outcome pathways, acceptance of artificial intelligence (AI) in risk assessment, and guaranteeing consumer safety. The stakeholder network meeting resulted in the identification of barriers, drivers and specific challenges that need to be addressed. Breakout groups discussed topics such as hazard versus risk assessment, future reliance on AI and machine learning, regulatory requirements for industry and sustainability of the ONTOX Hub platform. The outputs from these discussions provided insights for overcoming barriers and leveraging drivers for implementing NAMs and PRA. It was concluded that there is a continued need for stakeholder engagement, including the organisation of a ‘hackathon’ to tackle challenges, to ensure the successful implementation of NAMs and PRA in chemical risk assessment.
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