Laure Martinez is a Doctor in Veterinary Medicine by training and practiced as such during 10 years before joining the industry. She is now a technico-regulatory expert in the Research and Development of Veterinary Biologicals at Virbac, France. She is also in charge of the life cycle management of these products for safety and efficacy parts as well as geoextensions. In this role, she also represents Virbac in several industry associations for regulatory surveillance and additionally focused on the regulatory acceptability of non-animal methods. She therefore joined 3Rs task force from Animal Health Europe and the 3Rs group from Health for Animals and leads Virbac’s internal 3R group. Since January 2024, she has also been leading the VICH Batch Potency Testing Subgroup, which is developing a harmonized guideline on replacing in vivo vaccine potency tests with in vitro methods.


Driven by the 3Rs principle (Replace, Reduce, Refine animal use) and supported by international harmonization through VICH/WOAH guidelines, safety batch testings (TABST or LABST) for veterinary vaccines have been successfully waived or deleted depending on the countries. Challenges remain due to product diversity and varied regulatory environments. HealthforAnimals and industry is engaged in promoting global elimination of these tests and understanding the global picture and the remaining hurdles and sharing experiences are prerequisites. Ultimate goal is to promote availability of vaccines worldwide without duplicating tests on animals, rationalizing time and costs.