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The chimps have taught us something.

But the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced Wednesday that its support for invasive research on the apes is over. The final 50 chimps which were set aside for research will no longer be probed. This is the end of controversial years regarding "federally funded primate experimentation".

NIH Director Francis Collins recently wrote an open letter  that the animals will no longer be used for testing experimental vaccines, drugs or other therapies.

Hence, they will be shifted into a federal sanctuary called Louisiana's Chimp Haven when there is some space for them, according to the Los Angeles Times.

"It is clear that we've reached a tipping point," Collins added. The main reason is that biomedical research projects that use chimpanzees are not needed any longer.

"Research with non-human primates has and continues to be vital to helping us understand and improve human health in a multitude of ways, including the development of treatments and interventions. However, use of non-human primates needs to be supported by the science," he said.

"We find no evidence that there is a need to continue to do research of an invasive sort on chimpanzees, not now and not going into the future," he added, according to The New York Times.

NIH retired 310 of its chimpanzees in June 2013, arguing that our "closest relatives deserve special respect." The remaining 50 chimps were kept in case they had been needed for "emergency medical research", according to NPR.

Last summer the second decision was taken, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gave out its final rule  to lump all chimpanzees as "endangered".

"I think this is the natural next step of what has been a very thoughtful five-year process of trying to come to terms with the benefits and risks of trying to perform research with these very special animals," Collins said in an interview with Nature. "We reached a point where in that five years the need for research has essentially shrunk to zero."

However, research will continue on alternate non-human primates, such as rhesus monkeys, notes the Huffington Post.

"These decisions are specific to chimpanzees. Research with other non-human primates will continue to be valued, supported, and conducted by the NIH," says Collins.

The decision is appreciated by animal rights activists.

"It's rare to close out a category of animal use so emphatically. That's exactly what's happening here, and it's thrilling," Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Human Society of the United States, posted. It's "amazing and historic news," said Kathleen Conlee, vice president of animal research issues for the Humane Society.