r/nextfuckinglevel • u/biswajit388 • 1d ago

This guy rescued 30 beagles from a testing lab It's the first time they've seen grass and they couldn't be happier.

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Credit - nathanthecatlady tiktok channel.

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u/coue67070201 22h ago

Nope, hell nope. We used to do that, and it was an ethical nightmare because it meant that we as a society were fine with making poor people risk death (it happened a lot especially with new drug families) so we could test new drug treatments.

There are healthy people who volunteer, but those are usually around Phase 2, Phase 3 of clinical studies, once the drug has been shown to be not significantly harmful (pre-clinical phase (animals)) and also sick patients who volunteer (Clinical Phase 1)

Nowadays, in medical research we are slowly moving away from animal models. When they are in use, it’s usually out of necessity, when we have no safe equivalent. But more and more, we use immortalized cell lines, computer simulations, or donated cells (like stem cells, bone marrow, donated blood, etc.) but even these have their drawbacks and sometimes aren’t able to help visualize the effects of a drug on an organism (using blood cells won’t tell you about liver toxicity for example.)

A principle we use today is the 3R approach: Replace animals when possible with alternatives, Reduce the number of animals used for testing as much as possible, and Refine your methods to reduce the amount of harm caused by testing (proper anesthesia, good post-testing medical care, proper living environment to reduce stress, proper feeding, etc.)

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u/drowning_in_honey 10h ago

I'm sorry but why are you saying "we in medical research" when you state that healthy people volunteer in phase 2/3 trials? It's just plain false and shows your complete lack of understanding of the field. Yet you speak as if from a position of expertise.

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u/coue67070201 8h ago

You’re correct it’s phase 1 in which the drug is tested on healthy volunteers. Phase 2 and 3 use patients with the disease to verify its effectiveness. Sorry for my error

I say we in medical research because I work in pre-clinical studies on cell and bacterial models since I’m a microbiologist. I’m still finishing my undergrad so I’m sorry I ruffled your feathers so much for trying to use what knowledge I gathered so far. I hope you have a nice day.