Clinical and regulatory perspectives on general/safety pharmacology tests: Results of a pharmaceutical industry survey

General/safety pharmacology is an emerging discipline within the pharmaceutical industry in which unanticipated effects of new drug candidates on major organ function (i.e., secondary pharmacological effects) are critically assessed in a variety of animal models. A survey was conducted to obtain customer input on the role and strategies of this emerging discipline. Four surveys were distributed to each of 30 U.S. pharmaceutical companies. Two surveys went to individuals within the regulatory department, and two went to individuals within the clinical department of each company. All responses were returned anonymously to the survey authors. Sixty‐six responses from at least 19 different companies were obtained. The responses from the clinical and regulatory departments were essentially the same and led to the following conclusions: (1) Major organ functions are monitored routinely in clinical trials to assess potential adverse drug effects; (2) major organ function studies are considered an essential part of non‐clinical drug safety testing; (3) respiratory, gastrointestinal, autonomic, and endocrine evaluations are considered an important part of major organ function studies, whereas cardiovascular, renal and central nervous evaluations are considered essential; (4) non‐clinical testing of these major organ functions should be conducted early in drug development, preferably before initiation of clinical trials; and (5) organ function investigations involving mechanisms of secondary pharmacological effects or drug interaction are considered an important part of general/safety pharmacology testing.