WIKIMEDIA, RAYSONHOThere is excessive reporting of positive results in papers that describe animal testing of potential therapies, just like the publishing bias seen in clinical research, according to a paper published today (July 16) in PLOS Biology. As a result, many potential therapies move forward into human trials when they probably should not.
“It’s really important [work] in that it gives another explanation for why treatments that appear to work in animals don’t work in humans,” said David Torgerson, director of the York Trials Unit at the University of York in the U.K., who was not involved in the study. “I’ve personally always thought that animal models are potentially not as good as people might assume, but actually that view could be completely wrong, according to this paper.”
Indeed, “many people have argued that maybe there are problems with animal studies—that they cannot capture human physiology and pathophysiology,” said John Ioannidis, a professor of medicine at Stanford University in California, who led the research. “I have believed all along that animal studies should be perfectly fine, if the ...
