The New Gold Standard is a new feature documentary that takes audiences inside some of the world’s leading research institutions to examine a scientific transformation already underway: the emergence of human-based research technologies that many scientists believe are reshaping how medicines are discovered, tested and approved.
The film investigates a rapidly evolving field of science through unprecedented access to researchers, policymakers, industry leaders and individuals whose lives have been directly impacted by advanced human-relevant research. The film features visits to institutions including Harvard University and Stanford University, where scientists are pioneering innovative approaches designed to improve the predictability and effectiveness of medical research.
The New Gold Standard explores how human-based methods are demonstrating the potential to deliver faster, more accurate and more predictive insights across many areas of biomedical research.
This documentary arrives at a moment of heightened public, scientific and policy interest in the future of biomedical research. As governments, regulators, researchers, and industry leaders evaluate new approaches to medical innovation, the film captures a system in transition and the people working across all sides of the debate.
Featured participants include Senator Cory Booker, Senator Rand Paul, Dr. Nicole Kleinstreuer from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), pharmaceutical executives and leading academic researchers. Through interviews spanning multiple perspectives, the film examines the scientific, regulatory, ethical and economic questions surrounding the future of research and drug development.
At the heart of the film is a deeply human story. Audiences meet a veterinarian who previously worked inside a primate research laboratory and a woman who adopted a former laboratory dog, offering rare firsthand perspectives on a world few people ever see. The film also visits animal sanctuaries in Wyoming and Oklahoma that care for dogs, cats, pigs, and primates that were from research labs.
While many Americans are unaware of the scale of animal testing in the United States, the film explores both the current realities of the system and the growing scientific interest in alternative approaches. The film also confronts a reality many Americans are unaware of: more than 42,000 dogs and over 106,000 monkeys are are being experimented on and kept in U.S. labs each year, along with thousands of cats, pigs rabbits and other animals, including an estimated 100 million mice and rats.
The New Gold Standard will have a theatrical release later this summer and be available for streaming this Fall.
Stay connected
Email us for screening interest, project inquiries, or updates on the documentary