Why Are Animal Studies Essential Before Human Clinical Trials?
Before the testing of a new drug, vaccine or medical device on people, it is necessary to conduct preclinical trials. Animal tests play a significant role in this process, helping the researcher to estimate the safety and effectiveness of a certain therapy.
However, why are animal tests still regarded as an essential stage of medical research?
Animal tests are needed as a link between the lab experiments with cells and the human trials. It allows the researcher to observe the reaction of the whole organism to the medication, which cannot be done in a petri dish.
And now the question appears:
Why do the researchers use various species of animals but not only one?
The reasons for that are biological. The choice of the animal depends on its similarity to the human being in genetic and physiological terms, the rate of its reproduction, and predisposition to the disease.
For examples
1. The most common model organisms are mice and rats since their genetics, immunity, and metabolic systems are similar to those of humans. In addition, they are small, affordable, and have short life spans, which makes them suitable for prolonged experiments.
2. The non-human primates (macaques) are used in a few areas of research, such as neuroscience, immunology, and vaccination studies, since they have brain and organ systems similar to the human body and the same immune reactions.
3. Alternative animal models include zebrafish and fruit flies; these organisms are useful in the initial stage of research or for developmental biology, as they develop fast and, in the case of zebrafish, their embryos are transparent.
4. Some breeds of animals are predisposed by nature or are genetically modified to have some diseases, such as diabetes, cancer, or Alzheimer’s disease.
Animal studies also help researchers answer several critical questions before a treatment reaches human volunteers:
· Is the treatment safe, and what dose can be given without causing harmful side effects?
· How does the body absorb, distribute, metabolize, and eliminate the drug?
· Does the treatment actually work against the disease in a living organism?
· Does it generate the evidence required by regulatory authorities before human clinical trials can begin?
However, animal studies also have important limitations.
The animal model is not a perfect one, so there will be some discrepancies when trying to translate their research to humans. Scientists adhere to stringent rules in the use of animals for experimentation to find other options such as organoids, organ-on-a-chip technology, and computer models. While these developments are becoming popular, experiments on animals are still very important to ensure safety in medicines being developed.
What do you think? Will advances in alternative technologies eventually reduce our reliance on animal studies, or will they continue to play a vital role in medical research?
MBH/PS