Non Human Primate Research

For more than ten years experience, Medicilon provides service of prelinical studies in non-human primates cro.  Studies in non-human primates are the final stage of preclinical development and provide data close to results seen in human studies.

Medicilon Offers the Following Studies

• Safety Pharmacology Studies
• Toxicological Research
• Pharmacokinetics and Toxicokinetics Research
• Studies of Primate Behavior
• Immunological Research
• Biomolecular Analysis
• Others

More than 100,000 non-human primates are used for biomedical research annually worldwide. The United States, Europe and Japan are the main countries that use these primates.  In the European Union, about 10,000 primates are used every year. These are mainly Old World species, which are primarily used for toxicological and safety purposes.

While the use of these animals leads to ethical objections, the scientific quality of primate studies is also the subject of discussion. This study investigates the extent to which the use of primates could be reduced or replaced through an analysis of the existing literature and interviews with stakeholders.

Why Use Animals in Research?

1. To advance basic scientific understanding
2. As models to study disease
3. To develop and test potential forms of treatment

As long as we believe that human life is more valuable than a fish, fly, mouse, or primate, research will be performed on animals before exposing humans to risk.

Primates as Research Models

Advantages

• Humankind’s closest biological relatives

• We share 98.4% of our DNA with chimpanzees
• Characteristics in common — tool use, long-lasting social relationships, and complex communication

• Same organs and organ systems which perform the same functions in pretty much the same way

Disadvantages

• Expensive to purchase and maintain

• Reproductive rate is low (typically one offspring per reproductive cycle) and the developmental period of the young is long
• Special handling and management requirements, based on the temperament and potentially lethal zoonoses of primates
• Ethical issues on the primates, especially chimpanzees, have limited their use

• There is no perfect animal model regardless of how similar it is to humans

Research with Primates

• Atherosclerosis
• Mental Health Disorders (Depression, Schizophrenia, OCD, Addiction)
• Cognitive Aging
• HIV/AIDS
• Immunology
• Reproduction
• Neuroscience (Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s)