Few therapies move from animal trials to humans

A new study has shed light on just how few treatments tested on animals are approved for use in humans. The study, published in PLOS Biology (2024, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002667 ), was spurred by Switzerland considering changes in animal testing laws , says Benjamin Ineichen, one of the study authors. Among all of the 122 systematic reviews the team analyzed, 50% of the included therapies that had been tested in animals made it to clinical trials, 40% made it to randomized controlled trials, and only 5% made it to regulatory approval by the US Food and Drug Administration or health authorities in the UK or Switzerland. Therapies for circulatory system disorders and mental health disorders fared the worst, with 1% and 0% of the treatments in the reviews reaching approval, respectively. Treatments for cancer and musculoskeletal diseases fared better, with 20% and 15% reaching approval. "I was actually surprised they observed