Re: risks in drugs tested on animals given to humans at 100 times the dosage

Hi Gigi. The subject of giving drugs to animals is a very emotional subject.

Since the invention of the database, information about the actions of drugs is readily available so tests on 
animals never need to be repeated. Final drug substances are never tested 
on animals, especially since the Thalidomide affair of the 70's in the UK.
In the Thalidomide case, the drug was given to primates and passed with 100% results. 
On being given to humans, the results were catastrophic.  "Thalidomide babies" were
born with major defects. This affair changed the face of drug testing overnight. 

Drugs are tested in human volunteers in three stages prior to launch. During the first stage, the 
drug's effects on the human metabolism are monitored. During the later stages.
the drug's effectiveness is examined. In the first stage testing all the 
subjects are, as I said, Volunteers. In the other later stages, the subjects 
are sufferers of the particular disease being treated. The big question 
these days, is the use of final drug substances on sick children.
Many Doctors administer smaller doses of a drug to a child, taking the view
that you can give a proportionally smaller  dose to a child and it is more likely to be safe.
Thankfully, in most cases this appears to be true.

Therefore, clinical testing needs to be done to check the effects of the 
drugs on the metabolism of healthy kids. BUT, what mother is going to give 
permission to feed drug substances to her child?

So you see, in a case like this, giving the drug to an animal would not 
help anyway.