Charles River Laboratories has appointed former FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner Namandjé N. Bumpus, Ph.D., to chair its newly established Scientific Advisory Board, guiding the company’s strategy to advance New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) that reduce reliance on animal testing in drug development.
Bumpus, who left the FDA in late 2024 after serving as both chief scientist and deputy commissioner, brings extensive regulatory and academic experience to the role. Before her tenure at the agency, she led the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. At Charles River, she will oversee an advisory group spanning regulatory, scientific, and operational disciplines charged with prioritizing NAM initiatives and overseeing governance across business units.
NAMs refer to scientific approaches designed to replace or supplement traditional animal studies, incorporating human-cell–based assays, computational toxicology, and organ-on-a-chip systems. Charles River’s program aligns with broader industry and regulatory efforts—including initiatives from the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health’s Validation and Qualification Network—to validate such methods for regulatory acceptance.
The appointment underscores Charles River’s growing commitment to developing non-animal technologies while maintaining compliance and scientific integrity across preclinical research. The move comes amid growing government and industry support for innovative testing strategies capable of improving predictivity, efficiency, and ethical standards in pharmaceutical development.