Missing evidence that animal research benefits humans: Moratorium is unjustified

doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7446.1017-c

BMJ 2004;328:1017-1018 (24 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7446.1017-c

Letter

Missing evidence that animal research benefits humans

Moratorium is unjustified

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Pound et al take an extremely narrow approach tothe question: "Where is the evidence that animal research benefitshumans?" and they misinterpret their own data.¹ Their openingstatement, that clinicians and the public often consider itaxiomatic that animal research has contributed to the treatmentof human disease, yet little evidence is available to supportthis view, is seriously misleading. There is a huge amount ofevidence for the value of animal research.

The authors identified 277 reviews of animal experiments butdescribed just six systematic reviews, conducted to discoverwhether animal research had informed particular clinical studies.Far from providing evidence that animal research doesn't work,five reviews showed that full analysis of the animal resultspredicted the ineffectiveness of the treatment being tested.But the clinical work was started before proper assessment ofthe animal studies.

It is imperative that animal research is properly evaluated. . . [Full text of this article]

Colin Blakemore, chief executive

Medical Research Council, London W1B 1AL Carolan.Davidge@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk

Tony Peatfield, head of policy

Medical Research Council, London W1B 1AL Carolan.Davidge@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk

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