Animal Experiments: Antidepressants

(asked on 18th October 2021) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with the Animals in Science Regulation Unit and other stakeholders on granting licences for the use of the forced swim test for screening of antidepressant drugs or as a model of human depression in response to the recommendations of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement & Reduction of Animals in Research, published 29 July 2021.


Answered by
Damian Hinds Portrait
Damian Hinds
Minister of State (Education)
This question was answered on 22nd October 2021

The Animals in Science Regulation Unit were involved in contributing to and reviewing the paper cited and it thus aligns to the regulatory approach taken by the Unit.

The Home Office through the Animals in Science Regulation Unit assures that, in every research proposal animals are replaced with non-animal alternatives wherever possible; the number of animals are reduced to the minimum necessary to achieve the result sought; and that, for those animals which must be used, procedures are refined as much as possible to minimise their suffering.

Reticulating Splines