R3 Bio Wants to Grow 'Organ Sacks' — Brainless Organ Systems — to Replace Animal Testing

R3 Bio Wants to Grow 'Organ Sacks' — Brainless Organ Systems — to Replace Animal Testing

As the Trump administration phases out animal experimentation across the federal government, Bay Area biotech startup R3 Bio is pitching a radical alternative: genetically engineered whole organ systems that contain every typical organ except a brain, rendering them unable to think or feel pain.

The Concept

R3 Bio's "organ sacks" would be:

• Complete organ systems: All typical organs present — heart, liver, lungs, kidneys
• No brain: Engineered to lack a brain, eliminating sentience and pain perception
• Nonsentient: Cannot think, feel, or suffer
• Scalable: Designed to be more scalable than current tissue models or organ-on-chip

Why Now?

The timing aligns with major shifts:

• Trump admin phasing out animal testing across federal government
• China banned nonhuman primate exports in 2020
• US monkey shortage: Not enough research monkeys for another pandemic
• CDC winding down monkey research
• Animal rights pressure: Primate research centers considering closure

The Company

• R3 Bio: Based in Bay Area
• Name origin: The "Three R's" of animal research — Replacement, Reduction, Refinement (Russell & Burch, 1959)
• Co-founder: Alice Gilman
• Backed by: Immortal Dragons, a Singapore-based longevity fund
• Current goal: Monkey organ sacks for drug testing
• Long-term goal: Human organ sacks as tissue/organ source

Investor Perspective

Boyang Wang, CEO of Immortal Dragons:

"We think replacement is probably better than repair when it comes to treating diseases or regulating the aging process in the human body. If we can create a nonsentient, headless bodyoid for a human being, that will be a great source of organs."

Why It Matters

1. Drug development: New drugs currently require monkey testing before human trials
2. Pandemic preparedness: Covid showed the critical role of primate testing
3. Ethical solution: Eliminates animal suffering while maintaining testing capability
4. Organ transplant: Long-term could provide organ supply for transplants

Source: WIRED | Emily Mullin