2010/03/29 by H. Bart van der Worp, David W. Howells, Emily S. Sena +4 · 1 citation
Veterinary · Computer Science · Neuroscience · Medicine · #Animal testing and alternatives #Computational Drug Discovery Methods #Anesthesia and Neurotoxicity Research #Disease #Medicine #MEDLINE #Intensive care medicine #Biology #Pathology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000245
openalex publication_date 2010/03/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/03
Animal experiments have contributed much to our understanding of mechanisms of disease, but their value in predicting the effectiveness of treatment strategies in clinical trials has remained controversial [1-3]. In fact, clinical trials are essential because animal studies do not predict with sufficient certainty what will happen in humans. In a review of animal studies published in seven leading scientific journals of high impact, about one-third of the studies translated at the level of human randomised trials, and one-tenth of the interventions, were subsequently approved for use in patients [1]. However, these were studies of high impact (median citation count, 889), and less frequently cited animal research probably has a lower likelihood of translation to the clinic. Depending on one's perspective, this attrition rate of 90% may be viewed as either a failure or as a success, but it serves to illustrate the magnitude of the difficulties in translation that beset even findings of high impact.