Dive Brief:
- At the Society of Toxicology meeting in San Diego last week, animal rights' group PETA promoted animal testing alternatives to preclinical CROs in attendance, in-Pharmatechnologist reports.
- PETA's presence was based on the desire to present research aimed at minimizing use of animals in preclinical research.
- Although PETA is opposed to the large-scale use of animals in clinical research, testing drugs and vaccines on animals is a legal requirement in the U.S. and the EU.
Dive Insight:
For PETA and other groups and organizations with similar goals, such as Battelle Life Sciences Research, the goal is to minimize the use of animals in research by advocating the use of innovative in vitro research methodologies that may achieve many of the same scientific goals.
The point has been made that many companies are using innovative non-animal methods instead of animal-based methods. But the reality is that there has never been a drug approved without animal testing. Whether or not that will change in the future is still an open question.