The Study
Poor Translatability of Biomedical Research Using Animals — A Narrative Review
This study is like a teacher reading many books and then writing a summary about what those books say. It's not doing a new experiment - it's just looking at what other researchers have found and putting it all together. Because it's just a summary of other people's work, we can't say it proves anything new. It can tell us what researchers think and what other studies have found, but it can't give us definite proof about cause and effect.
Analysis score
Maximum 5 for a narrative review.
Where the score came from
Scientists reviewed why drugs that work in animals frequently fail when given to humans. They found that over 92% of drugs failing in human trials showed no problems in animal tests.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 51 / 100
Quality score
Based on clinical experience or non-systematic literature reviews. The lowest level of evidence as they are most susceptible to bias and personal perspective.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1This means that animal testing often gives false hope - drugs appearing safe and effective in animals frequently harm or don't help humans.
- 2This wastes enormous resources and puts human trial participants at risk.
- 3Over 92% of drugs fail to translate from animal testing to human treatments.
- 4Most failures are due to unexpected safety problems or lack of effectiveness in humans that weren't seen in animal tests.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Alternatives to Laboratory Animals
Year
2023
Authors
Lindsay J. Marshall, Jarrod Bailey, Manuela Cassotta, Kathrin Herrmann, F. Pistollato
Related Content
Claims (2)
Most drugs that look promising in animal studies—over 92% of them—end up failing when researchers try to use them in humans, and this high failure rate hasn't changed much in decades.
When scientists develop new drugs using animal tests, more than 92% of them fail when tried on humans - either because they're toxic or don't work as expected.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.