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Animal Testing
The Use of Animals in Drug Testing
Animal testing extracts strong opinions from both those for and those against the practice. There are two main reasons why animals are used in scientific experimentation for drug testing. The first is to make sure the safety of new drugs and other pharmaceutical products. The second is to see how these drugs might be effective in humans (De Boer, 2009). The testing of drugs on animals is a very important process that is necessary in order to facilitate the research and development of new drugs for humans.
The testing of drugs on humans typically comes at the end of a long process of safety data collection. This may include testing the product in a test-tube and using a computer program to simulate what might happen to the drug inside the body and the testing of the drugs on animals. The policies on what safety data is required for a new product vary from country to country and also from drug to drug, but most drug authorities require all three types of data, animal, in vitro and computer generated (De Boer, 2009). This is what makes drug testing on animals so very important in the pharmaceutical industry.
References
Cami, Jordi. (1991). Perspectives and future on testing for abuse liability in humans. British Journal of Addiction. 86(12), p1529-1531.
De Boer, Bonita. (2009). HIV Drugs, Vaccines and Animal Testing. Retrieved March 19, 2010,
from Avert Web site: http://www.avert.org/hiv-animal-testing.htm
Greaves, Peter, Williams, Andrew and Eve, Malcolm. (2004). First dose of potential new medicines to humans: how animals help. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 3(3), p226-
Houdebine, L.-M. (2005). Use of Transgenic Animals to Improve Human Health and Animal
Production. Reproduction in Domestic Animals. 40(4), p269-281.
Wanjek, Christopher. (2008). Why Lab Animals are Still Used. Retrieved March 19, 2010, from Live Science Web site: http://www.livescience.com/health/080212-bad-animal-testing.html
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