For decades, drug companies have depended on a component in the blood of the horseshoe crab to test injectable medicines, including vaccines, for dangerous bacterial contaminants called endotoxins.

Surf on a beach at sunset features a horseshoe crab upside down in the water and several others nearby. Regulatory changes may make the pharmaceutical industry less reliant on horseshoe crabs for ...

Hundreds of thousands of horseshoe crabs are used for endotoxin testing in the United States each year, bled for their blood’s ability to clot in the presence of toxins. An estimated 10 to 30 percent ...

They are captured from the wild, piled inside plastic bins, and hauled into labs where they are strapped to a stand. A hypodermic needle is inserted into the membrane surrounding their heart, causing ...