Integration of Consortia Recommendations for Justification of Animal Use Within Current and Future Drug Development Paradigms

The pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries continually review the requirements for, and relevance of, safety assessment strategies. Various industry consortia are currently discussing and reviewing data on a range of topics with respect to regulatory toxicology programs. These consortia are charged with critical evaluation of data and the identification of opportunities to promote best practice and to introduce improved approaches to safety assessment. Such improvements may include enhanced predictivity, more efficient ways of working, and opportunities for promoting and implementing the 3Rs (replacement, refinement, or reduction). As each consortium is considering a distinct question, individual outputs and recommendations could be perceived to be conflicting. However, a common theme embraced by the consortia represented here is exploration of the most appropriate use of animals for the safety assessment of new medicinal products. This short review summarizes presentations and discussions from a symposium describing the work of four industry consortia and considers whether their recommendations can be aligned into realistic approaches to improve future toxicology testing strategies, highlighting justification for the appropriate use of different animal species and opportunities for reductions in animal use without compromising patient safety.