Five Nobel laureates and 38 fellows of the Royal Society were among 110 leading medical signatories of an open letter demanding an end to red tape surrounding animal research.
They called on Lord Sainsbury, minister for science, to act to reduce the delays in granting licences to perform medical experiments on animals.
Nancy Rothwell, of the UK Life Science Committee that represents 30,000 scientists, said the system needed to be reformed to speed the process.
Leader, page 14.