The Dutch government wants to set up a new investment fund which will put money into developing animal-free research.

The cabinet plans to fund the start-up costs but the rest of the investment will have to come from the private sector, junior economic affairs minister Sharon Dijksma said in a briefing to parliament.

The fund will be open to researchers who want to develop techniques for testing drugs and other substances without using animals, Dijksma said.

Every year some 500,000 animals are used in scientific experiments in the Netherlands. Around half of the experiments are for scientific purposes and a third for the production and testing of drugs. The rest were used for assessing dangerous substances and for training purposes.

Dijksma said the Netherlands aims to be the world’s most advanced nation in terms of animal-free research by 2025.