Current Models are not Predictive

Experimental animals and animal testing paradigms are a key component in safe and effective drug development. However, a long-standing problem from the perspective of pre-clinical testing validity and especially the ethics of animal use is a lack of predictive value in translating whole animal results into successful human clinical trials. One way to improve the predictive value of animal testing is to use more clinically-relevant animal models of human disease. This problem is especially acute for neurodegenerative diseases. Several serious late clinical phase trials failures for ALS and Alzheimer’s disease have been reported wherein positive results had been obtained using “gold-standard” pre-clinical animal models. Many experts in the field believe that the time is ripe for models which more completely track the course of human disease development.

Neurodegenerative disease development

Neurodegenerative disease development can be described as following a course similar to that shown in the schematic in which a causal event(s) e.g., the exposure to a neurotoxin, triggers a pathological cascade of events resulting in the progressive loss of central nervous tissue, prior to the manifestation of clinical symptoms. It is not until substantial and irreversible damage has occurred to the central nervous system that symptoms are manifest and the disease diagnosed.

CNS’s models faithfully re-create the disease process from it’s earliest onset and allow evaluation of test articles throughout the disease process. Visit our Models Section for more complete details.