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ECEAE calls for human-relevant models to be promoted in COVID-19 research
5 May 2020
News
In order to have effective and fast medical research, the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments calls for human-relevant model systems to be promoted and adequately funded.
It is a well-known and major drawback of animal experiments. They are slow – too slow in times of a pandemic such as SARS-CoV-2 that we are currently facing. It has long been criticized by scientists and NGOs that medical research based on animal experimentation is inefficient – in particular when it comes to disease modelling and drug development. Also, it has been discussed for years with numerous stakeholders that human-relevant model systems have to be established, optimized and validated. Many advanced research models have already been developed such as 3D cell models of the human lung and of the immune system or advanced organ-on-a-chip approaches.
Still, research funding is largely assigned to projects involving animal experiments whereas very little is invested in the optimization and establishment of human-based technologies. Shifting our scientific paradigm towards animal-free research would be wise in order to have human-relevant research models available for future pandemics which will certainly come. Such in vitro models are faster and more efficient compared to animal research because they do not face the problem of species-specific differences. Countless animals are currently suffering in animal experiments related to COVID-19 in order to find “the right animal model” for studying the virus and its infectious properties. Ferrets are now claimed to be an excellent “model”, because they get infected by SARS-CoV-2. However, ferrets do not develop any symptoms of the disease as observed in humans making the approach a dead end road.Read more at source
