On the World Day for Laboratory Animals, we are proud of our work in non-human primate research and of the standard of care that has to come with it.
Non-human primates have been used in scientific research for many years, and their contributions have led to numerous medical breakthroughs. Polio and hepatitis B vaccines were developed with primate studies, and cancer treatments were tested in primates before they reached patients. The reason is proximity: NHP physiology, immune recognition, and drug metabolism sit closer to human than those of rodents, so a result in a monkey carries more weight in an IND package than the same result in a mouse. That is also why the species is held back for questions a rodent cannot answer.
At Prisys, we recognize the scientific value of non-human primate research and the ethical questions it raises. We hold that responsible and humane animal research is possible, and that it can serve scientific progress and animal welfare at once. The facilities are purpose-built for NHP housing and procedures, and the technologies we use are chosen partly for how much they return per procedure.
Enrichment and socialization are part of routine care under the company's animal welfare program, and the Group Housing Guidelines For Laboratory Monkeys set the housing standard we work to. A team of veterinarians and animal care staff monitors health and behavior, and their observations feed into study decisions. An animal that is unwell or stressed produces endpoints that move for reasons unrelated to the drug.
Healthy animals give cleaner baselines for clinical pathology, food intake, and behavioral scoring, and a clean baseline is what makes a small treatment effect visible. Reduction belongs to the same argument, and the approach described in Reducing the Use of Nonhuman Primates in Nonclinical Safety Assessments shapes study design here: fewer animals, better chosen, each one carrying more endpoints.
Model selection follows the same logic. NHP Pharmacology work starts from the question a compound has to answer, and the species and endpoint list follow from it rather than from what happens to be on hand. Species background and colony practice are collected in Nonhuman Primate Resources.
