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Research in Monkeys Depends on Monkey Business for the Supply of Animals
(Thursday, March 7, 2024) Experimental data from research in non-human primates, which is almost always rhesus monkeys, is considered critical for establishing the safety and efficacy profile of many new drugs in market approval applications to the FDA. So, the ethical and legal acquisition of animals for this research is an important consideration. This week, an expose in Bloomberg News highlights how hard it could be to ensure that the monkeys used for research were procured appropriately and other risky business behavior that could cloud the outcome of experiments conducted on those animals, not to mention the ethical issues. The Bloomberg story is about suppliers of animals for primate research and goes into several illegal, unethical, cruel, and illegal activities at several Cambodian businesses. The article talks about the poaching of animals from the wild, housing them in unhygienic and disease-prone conditions, falsification of animal procurement records, manipulation of documentation to hide unsavory information, and many other issues. Cambodia is the world’s biggest source of rhesus monkeys and other monkey species widely used for animal research. Unlike monkey farms in other parts of the world, where animals are specifically bred for research, Cambodia-based businesses primarily rely on illegal poaching. And, since animals for research pass through several middlemen before ending up at a research facility, the researchers may not even know about the background of these animals. So, where does it leave the researchers using these animals? Currently, there is no regulatory requirement for the researchers to provide the complete history of their source for the animals in the GLP reports submitted to the applications. The rules are broad and vague about the documentation process for animal procurement and anyway with so many falsified records in circulation for the animals in research, it may not even be possible to ensure that the animals were ethically procured and humanely treated. Whether you are in support of or opposed to animal research, caution starts with knowledge about these practices, which should start with this article and others like it. 
AUTHOR
Dr. Mukesh Kumar Founder & CEO, FDAMap Email: [email protected] Linkedin: Mukesh Kumar, PhD, RAC Instagram: mukeshkumarrac Twitter: @FDA_MAP Youtube: MukeshKumarFDAMap |
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