03/16/2018
UK-based National Centre for the 3Rs (NC3Rs) recently awarded its 2017 International prize -- sponsored by pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline -- to Oxford researchers who developed an in silico (computer) model of human cardiac cells, which demonstrates higher accuracy than animal models in drug trials predicting clinical pro-arrhythmic cardiotoxicity.
When compared to clinical data, researchers found the computer model predicted when a drug or compound could cause arrhythmia 89% of the time, while other drug trials on heart cells taken from rabbits only matched up to the clinical data up to 75% of the time.
This development is an example of the many scientific advances happening worldwide in the alternatives field that will ultimately help to replace the millions of animals currently suffering in drug and toxicity testing.
Read http://bit.ly/2FHoKHa to learn more about NEAVS' work to support ground-breaking alternatives in science.
Rats, mice, rabbits, and other animals have long been an essential part of testing drugs for safety and efficacy before they make their way to human subjects. But some scientists are trying to spare these animals, and even make drugs safer, by instead creating and relying on virtual test subjects.
