EURL ECVAM Literature Review Series on Advanced Non-Animal Models for Respiratory Diseases, Breast Cancer and Neurodegenerative Disorders

In vivo models are used in biomedical research to reproduce human disease and develop new drugs. However, they do not mimic the disease as it occurs in humans, and their use has failed to identify novel therapies effective for many highly prevalent non-communicable diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease. Indeed, the clinical failure rate in drug development remains very high, with an overall likelihood of approval from Phase I of about 9.6%. On the other hand, human-based models, advanced imaging techniques and human epidemiological studies may increase our understanding of disease aetiology and pathogenesis and enable the advance of safe and effective therapies. Particularly when human tissues are used, they may produce faster, cheaper results, more predictive for humans, whilst yielding greater comprehensions of human biochemical processes. A first effort to collect existing knowledge about non-animal models of highly prevalent human diseases was made by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. The final aim was to identify and share information on the capabilities and limits of human-based models at different levels: scientific communities, universities and secondary schools, national committees for animal welfare and the public at large.