Animal Tests of Anti-Inflammatory Drug Failed to Predict Human Risk

Write to the acting commissioner of the FDA and ask him to implement alternatives to animal testing when developing new drugs.

Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D.
Acting Commissioner
Food and Drug Administration
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, MD 20857

Dear Dr. von Eschenbach,

It is time for the Food and Drug Administration to issue regulations requiring pharmaceutical companies to develop alternatives to animal testing when developing new drugs and seeking approval from the FDA for permission to proceed to clinical (human) trials. The clinical testing required on animals for FDA drug approval is the cause of pain and suffering for millions of animals in the United States each year, and these tests have proven to bear little or no relationship to the effect that the drug will have on humans. Vioxx, with Merck and the FDA’s careless reliance on animal tests, is a case in point. Both the laboratory animals and the people who take such drugs suffer needlessly. It is time for the FDA to change its regulations to require more accurate and humane alternatives to experimenting on animals.

PCRM Online, April 2006

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