Humane Society has identified 3D test-tube tumours as 'an example of how moving away from animal research can unlock answers to cancer questions that animal testing has failed to reveal for decades'.
US scientists used normal healthy human cells taken from surgical samples of skin, cervix, oesophagus and throat.
The cells were used to create realistic tumours that grew in a culture dish in the same way they do in the human body, but at a faster pace.
Reported by the Press Association, the scientists have used the lab tumours to test 20 experimental anti-cancer drugs that could not easily be tested on animals.
'This could be a really significant breakthrough technology and is an example of how moving away from animal research can help unlock answers to cancer questions that animal testing has failed to reveal for decades,' said Wendy Higgins for Humane Society.
'Other animals, particularly rodents, can respond so differently to cancers and cancer treatments that their relevance for human patients is highly questionable,' she said.
'More and more we're seeing disease research moving away from failing animal models and turning instead to the very best that modern, advanced non-animal science can offer,' Higgins added.
The study is published online in the journal Nature Medicine.
