FDA explores ways to reduce animal studies for developing veterinary drugs

By PharmaCompass

2018-11-22

Impressions: 157 Article

Pharma companies that develop veterinary medicines have to carry out trials of their experimental drugs on dogs, which often leads to death of the animals involved.

Last week, FDA said it plans to study a new model that will result in fewer animal deaths, and put about two dozen beagles up for adoption.

The FDA study will examine anti-parasitic medicine for dogs — such as a dewormer — and will test it for effectiveness by taking a blood sample, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a statement. That would be far less gruesome than the current practice, in which dogs are killed and dissected to check their gastrointestinal tract.

The agency plans to use data generated from the tests to establish a benchmark for how drugs are absorbed in dogs’ blood, potentially allowing makers of animal drugs to use models instead of experiments on live dogs that sometimes include euthanization.

The FDA has been exploring ways to reduce reliance on animal studies. In January, it started the Animal Welfare Council after terminating a nicotine study in which four squirrel monkeys died.

The FDA’s modeling test will be run in 27 beagles, according to a white paper describing the plan.

“The dogs will receive regular veterinary care, including vaccinations and other preventive care, so that they remain happy, well-socialized and healthy,” Gottlieb said in the statement. “At the conclusion of the study, the dogs will be retired for adoption as pets.”

The agency estimated that the new modeling “will likely result in saving more than three-quarters of the animals otherwise required”. In a two to five year period, that equates to approximately several hundred animals, the FDA added.

In 2016, about 60,000 dogs were used in human and veterinary research and testing in the US, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

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