Saturday, September 27, 2025
Systematic reviews have clearly demonstrated the limited human clinical and toxicological utility of animal experiments. This presentation briefly summarises this evidence, and reviews the reasons for the poor human predictivity of animal models. These include inherent differences between humans and animals, further exacerbated by the ways in which we use them – particularly, the stressful laboratory environments and procedures we subject animals to. Scientific flaws and sources of unconscious bias are widespread – undermining study reliability and reproducibility. Finally, publication bias frequently results in a distorted view and unrealistic expectations about the efficacy of pharmaceuticals tested in animals.