A $4.5 million project to help reduce animals in medical research will involve the Hunter, but the chances of ending animal experiments appears to be decades away.
The Minns government, which announced the funding on Thursday, said "non-animal technologies" were "beginning to exceed the performance of animal models".
A government statement said the use of "human cells or tissues" in research were "more biologically similar" to patients.
"So medicines being tested are less likely to fail in clinical trials," the statement said.
NSW Minister for Medical Research David Harris said "non-animal technologies in medical research are the way forward".
However, it was only two years ago that Hunter Medical Research Institute [HMRI] said available technologies could not replace animals in research.
Nonetheless, Animal Justice Party MP Emma Hurst said she was "relieved to see this funding finally being distributed".
"The allocation of these funds originally came from the Coalition, following an inquiry into the use of animals in experimentation," Ms Hurst said.
The NSW parliamentary inquiry, held in 2022, examined the "use of primates and other animals in medical research".
Ms Hurst said it "exposed shocking realities occurring behind closed doors in NSW".
The inquiry found "animals in experimentation facilities were having their tails and toes cut off, and that procedures were being performed without anaesthesia".
"Mass killings were taking place after the over-breeding of animals to be used in experiments," Ms Hurst said.
She said the funding would "bring us closer to the replacement of animals in this industry forever - something we absolutely have to work towards to stop the cruelty".
The funding will be used to establish the "Non-Animal Technologies Network", which will develop alternatives to using animals and advise on infrastructure and regulations.
The project may include complex multi-organ models, organs-on-chips and methods that use machine learning and artificial intelligence.
The network will include experts from University of Newcastle and HMRI, along with Sydney- and Wollongong-based organisations.
The university and HMRI did not provide comment for this story.
However, HMRI told the 2022 inquiry that it used in-vitro technologies and 3D organoids routinely and "in some circumstances this can be used to reduce the use of animals for drug discovery".
"But this approach is already being used as much as it possibly can be, therefore it does not offer much further scope for reductions," its submission said.
It added that these technologies "cannot be used to replace animals in research".
"The benefits of using animals in medical research have been enormous and invaluable for public health and medical advancement."
The university told the inquiry that "significant funding" was needed for "research into alternatives to animal use".
"The benefits from animal research are far reaching and not well broadcast," its submission said.
Animal-Free Science Advocacy chief executive Rachel Smith said "specific funding for non-animal research methods has been a long-standing gap in Australia".
"It is promising to see NSW leading the way," Ms Smith said.
A 2023 CSIRO report said non-animal models for several organ systems in the body were "likely to disrupt the status quo" for use of animal models "over the next 15 years".
