The early stages of drug development require safety testing before drug candidates are selected. Telemetry with intravenous infusions is one method to obtain reliable safety information and assess risks and reactions within a drug target or molecules suitable to inform early decision-making.
Telemetrically monitored intravenous infusions can be carried out on living animals and are now deemed the preferred way in preclinical pharmacology safety studies to assess the physiological parameter effects when a testing drug dose is administered. There is no longer a need to restrain, sedate or anaesthetise animals to dispense test samples. Results can be achieved without added stress to the animals that traditional methods cause.
Reducing animal testing issues
Vascular access buttons (VABs) and implanted vascular catheters allow intravenous dosing of the test substance in rodents and other animal telemetry services. Companies such as offer these services alongside advice to assist expert drug discovery and preclinical services, a core requirement for pharmaceutical companies and contract research organisations to gain test information results to assess the safety and viability of drugs in development.
Intravenous infusions using remote dosing enable a testing environment that places less stress on the animals kept for testing. Results are achieved without the stress-induced artefacts that traditional dosing methods bring, thus allowing any acute effects from intravenously administered molecules to be detected easily.
The use of telemetry with intravenous infusion also supports the UK government and the growing demand worldwide to . In some cases, the only option is to use animals to ensure the drug s adversity, reactivity and safety are assessed before seeking regulatory approval or human testing and releasing the new drug or product to market.
Better animal welfare over prolonged drug infusion periods
VABs improve the social welfare aspect of the care for animals, as they can live together in group housing, with no need for isolation to ensure controlled testing takes place. The use of implanted vascular catheters and vascular access buttons offers a greater refinement of dosages that can be administered without the need to handle or restrain animals or to use needlesticks, all of which can cause adrenaline and stress reactors within the animal. VABs also facilitate longer and prolonged drug administration through controlled wireless telemetry monitors that provide continuous real-time monitoring of heart rhythms, oxygen saturation and respiratory rates and monitor the animal during administration and designated periods after dosing.
Data records the physiological signals received when the animal is allowed to behave naturally without the influence of anaesthesia or restraint. Data can be recorded and monitored to measure effects for the period following dosage. If required, records can be recorded for weeks and months to enable insight into recovery and monitor delayed onset effects.
Multi-level social environments are deemed the most appropriate housing for animals in testing laboratories to support their well-being. Intravenous infusion with telemetry monitoring offers this effectively while having the added benefit of less animal handling, cost and the ability to reuse animals. This mechanism supports the growing legal and social pressures to reduce the number of animals used in testing as advances in catheter patency allow implanted animals to be reused, thus making a significant contribution to the need to reduce the overall number of animals used in testing.
Is there an end to animal testing?
No matter the progression in synthetic testing capabilities, animal testing will always be needed, and targeted drug therapy techniques can advance and bring much-needed medical advancements that we strive for.
Yet we are also responsible for acting considerately towards the animals used to conduct such testing. Reducing stress and creating a more natural environment that offers a social setting more in keeping with how they want to live offers more reliable test results.
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