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Substance Use Research Needs Human-Based Approaches
Two institutes at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are dedicated to research related to substance use disorders: the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). In August, Physicians Committee experts provided input to each, urging them to phase out the use of nonhuman primates and prioritize human-based approaches.
Alcohol and drug abuse disorders are some of the most prevalent conditions in the United States. Approximately fifty million Americans live with significant impairments or distress because of their substance use. Myriad biological, genetic, environmental, and social factors contribute to substance use disorder risk, onset, and outcomes, including brain chemistry, peer and familial relationships, socioeconomic status, and early life stress—factors that are often difficult, if not impossible, to model using animals.
Despite these limitations, animals are frequently used in substance use research, even to investigate questions that have already been answered using human-based methods. For example, across multiple studies and over several years, researchers at the Oregon National Primate Research Center have dosed monkeys with large quantities of alcohol and THC to investigate topics that already have a wealth of findings from human-based experiments.
In our comments to NIDA and NIAAA, Physicians Committee experts reiterated concerns we have expressed in official complaints to Oregon Health & Sciences University, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the NIH. We also recommended phasing out nonhuman primate use and prioritizing human-based methods and human clinical research in substance use and addiction-related research. To support a transition away from animal use, the institutes should:
- Support human-based training, education, infrastructure, and resource accessibility.
- Advance data science and AI for human-based research.
- Implement new measures to minimize duplicative projects and those that lack human relevance.
- Collaborate with healthcare providers that specialize in treating substance use disorders and addiction to understand their unique human and societal aspects.
As the NIH prioritizes human-based methods and reduces animal use agencywide we will continue to encourage institutes to move away from animal use across human health research areas.
