Japan: JaCVAM - National Validation Center
Last Updated: February 4, 2010	Print | Email

Dr. Hajime Kojima Director of JaCVAM

The Japanese Center for the Validation of Alternative Methods (JaCVAM) is located in the office of New Testing Method Assessment, Division of Pharmacology, National Biological Safety Research Center (NBSRC), National Institute of Health Sciences (NIHS) in Tokyo. Dr. Hajime Kojima is the Director of JaCVAM.

JaCVAM was established in 2005, and is charged with the following key activities (Kojima, 2008): 1) to facilitate the 3Rs (Reduction, Refinement, and Replacement) in animal testing for regulatory purposes, prioritizing Reduction and Replacement; and 2) to ensure new methods originated in Japan are validated, peer reviewed, accepted by regulatory agencies, and made internationally compatible. The purpose and responsibilities of JaCVAM are similar to those of its US and EU counterparts, NICEATM-ICCVAM and ECVAM, respectively.

JaCVAM's Policy and Mission are defined as follows:

• to promote the 3Rs in animal experiments for the evaluation of chemical substance safety in Japan, and
• to establish guidelines for new alternative experimental methods through international collaboration

To facilitate the conduct of these activities, JaCVAM cooperates with other organizations such as the Japanese Society for Alternatives to Animal Experiments (JSAAE) and the Japanese Chemical Industry Association (JCIA) (Kojima, 2007).

JaCVAM and the JSAAE also collaborate on national and international symposia focusing on alternative test methods. The NIHS, JaCVAM, and the JSAAE coordinated and hosted the 6^th World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences which was held in Tokyo in August 2007. JaCVAM also participates in JSAAE annual meetings, such as the 22^nd Annual Meeting in November 2009.

The new English version of the JaCVAM website, launched in August 2009, provides stakeholders outside of Japan with easier access to their activities. The site provides details on the organization of JaCVAM, and describes the committees and groups that participate in advising JaCVAM and participate in their review of alternative methods in Japan.

Three pages under the JaCVAM Activities link provide an excellent overview of the activities of JaCVAM. The Update on JaCVAM page provides a table that describes the validation/peer review/regulatory acceptance status of different alternative test methods that are undergoing or have undergone evaluation by JaCVAM. The types of toxicity test methods that have or are undergoing validation studies or review by JaCVAM include alternative methods for skin irritation, skin corrosion, skin absorption, skin sensitization, phototoxicity, eye irritation, acute oral toxicity, genotoxicity, endocrine disruptor screening, carcinogenicity screening, and pyrogenicity testing.

The JaCVAM Regulatory Acceptance Board issues statements on the validity of test methods reviewed by JaCVAM peer review panels. Statements endorsing the following methods have been made: the Vitrolife-Skin^TM 3-dimensional cultured skin model for skin corrosivity testing, and the LLNA-DA for skin sensitization testing.

Articles and presentations for 2006-2009 are listed under Academic Activities; this section elaborates on the wide range of scientific studies and collaborations in which JaCVAM scientists have been involved.

JaCVAM also participates in international activities intended to facilitate the validation, acceptance, and/or harmonization of alternative test methods, including those of the OECD, ECVAM, ICCVAM, and International Cooperation on Alternative Test Methods (ICATM). In 2009, Dr. Kojima participated as Japan's representative in the signing of the ICATM agreement between Japan, the US, the EU, and Canada intended to enhance international cooperation on the validation and evaluation of new toxicity test methods.

Dr. Kojima and the JSAAE have also provided important leadership in the establishment of alternative methods in other Asian countries. They have collaborated with Korea, which announced in November 2009 the launch of the Korean Center for the Validation of Alternative Methods (KoCVAM).