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LETTERS: Timothy I Musch, Robert G Carroll, Armin Just, Pascale H Lane, and William T Talman A broader view of animal research BMJ 2007; 334: 274 [Full text]

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Animal experiments- significance

Ramaswamy Subramanyan Iyer, Jaikumar.S   (10 February 2007)

Animal experiments- significance 10 February 2007
Ramaswamy Subramanyan Iyer, Professor & Head,Department of Pharmacology Aarupadai Veedu Medical College & Hospital, Kirumampakkam, Pondicherry 607 402. India, Jaikumar.S Send response to journal: Re: Animal experiments- significance	Editor, In the recent days, the significance of animal experiments are questioned based on mainly two factors namely, bias and that the results cannot be directly applied to human. These are not indeed new as these issues are well considered right from the introduction of these experiments. The modalities to overcome the same such as blinding, the design and if the results are promising carrying out the same on primates. Such deficiencies are applicable for the clinical trial too. Double blind studies and phase IV are measures are included to rectify the same. As indicated in this article, the animal experiments provide important data on mechanism of action which is nost needed for the currently practiced evidance based medicine and problem based medicine. Even the current alternatives identified for animal experiments suffer from much more deficiencies. With the recent outburst on herbal research which warrants scientific validation animal studies appear most important. No doubt rectification of the deficiencies/ faulty design and adherence to proper ethical care be given imortance but animal experiments cannot be substituted / dispensed with. I hope more such data are generated for obtaining a clear view Competing interests: None declared