Animal testing is cruel—and pointless

Animal testing is cruel and pointless, with just 5 percent of drugs tested on animals ever getting approval, new research has discovered.

Every drug regulator demands that new pharmaceutical agents are tested on animals for their safety before they are given to small groups of people—but they tell us surprisingly little, researchers at the University of Zurich have discovered.

Although half of the pharmaceuticals pass the initial animal testing phase, just 5 percent ever make it to full approval, suggesting there are biological differences between animals and people that are so big that the results are almost meaningless.

The researchers analysed 122 reviews of tests on drugs to treat 54 different human diseases, and it took an average of 10 years to get full approval.

Instead of testing on animals, computer simulations and AI, and in vitro biological assessments could work just as well, and without the cruelty.

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