IT IS TIME TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IN VITRO CELL BASED MODELS

Dear Reader, Preclinical tests are crucial for assessing the toxicity and safety of new drugs before moving on to evaluating their efficacy and immunogenicity. Animal models, as well as alternatives, have long been used to study human biology and pathology. However, animal experimentation has been restricted in recent years due to increasing complexities in animal usage and growing concerns about animal welfare groups. There have been ethical concerns raised about the unnecessary or excessive use of experimental animals. As a result, many jurisdictions, including the Indian government, the European Union (EU), the United States, Canada, and South Korea, have restricted usage of experimental animals. Another reason for the limitation of using animals in experiments is uncertainty of results. According to one study, 90% of experimental drugs fail clinical trials, implying that they do not accurately reflect human physiology. The Indian government recently amended the New Drugs and Clinical Trials 2023 (NDCT) Act aimed at fostering the replacement, reduction and refinement of animal testing and the use of non-animal and human-relevant methods to assess the safety and efficacy of new drugs.