title: Towards a 21st-century roadmap for biomedical research and drug discovery: consensus report and recommendations.
abstract: Decades of costly failures in translating drug candidates from preclinical disease models to human therapeutic use warrant reconsideration of the priority placed on animal models in biomedical research. Following an international workshop attended by experts from academia, government institutions, research funding bodies, and the corporate and non-governmental organisation (NGO) sectors, in this consensus report, we analyse, as case studies, five disease areas with major unmet needs for new treatments. In view of the scientifically driven transition towards a human pathways-based paradigm in toxicology, a similar paradigm shift appears to be justified in biomedical research. There is a pressing need for an approach that strategically implements advanced, human biology-based models and tools to understand disease pathways at multiple biological scales. We present recommendations to help achieve this.
authors.affiliation: Research & Toxicology Department, Humane Society International, London, UK. Electronic address: sciencesources@btinternet.com.
authors.forename: Gillian R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Langley
authors.affiliation: Respiratory Cell & Molecular Biology, National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College, London, UK.
authors.forename: Ian M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Adcock
authors.affiliation: Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) Europe, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Busquet
authors.affiliation: National Center for Computational Toxicology, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Kevin M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Crofton
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine - Rheumatology, Esslingen District Clinics GmbH, Kirchheim Clinic, Academic Teaching Hospital, University of Tübingen, Kirchheim unter Teck, Germany.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Csernok
authors.affiliation: ProBioGen AG, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Giese
authors.affiliation: Finnish Centre for Alternative Methods, School of Medicine, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Tuula
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Heinonen
authors.affiliation: Dahlem Research School, Free University Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Kathrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Herrmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioinformatics, Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing (SCAI), Institutszentrum Birlinghoven, Sankt Augustin, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hofmann-Apitius
authors.affiliation: European Commission, DG Joint Research Centre, Directorate F - Health, Consumers and Reference Materials, F3 Chemical Safety and Alternative Methods Unit, Ispra (VA), Italy.
authors.forename: Brigitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Landesmann
authors.affiliation: School of Life and Health Sciences, Aston University, Aston Triangle, Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: Lindsay J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.affiliation: Humane Society International, London, UK.
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: McIvor
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics & Cellular & Molecular Medicine, UCSD School of Medicine, Rady Children's Hospital, Sanford Consortium, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Alysson R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Muotri
authors.affiliation: Biochemical Engineering Institute, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany.
authors.forename: Fozia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Noor
authors.affiliation: European Commission, DG ENVIRONMENT, Directorate A - Green Economy, Unit A.3 - Chemicals, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schutte
authors.affiliation: Research & Toxicology Department, Humane Society International, Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: Troy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Seidle
authors.affiliation: Philips Research (Philips Group Innovation), Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van de Stolpe
authors.affiliation: Center for Human Genetics, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Hilde
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Van Esch
authors.affiliation: Animal Research Issues, The Humane Society of the United States, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Willett
authors.affiliation: MRC/Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma, Division of Asthma, Allergy & Lung Biology, King's College London, Guy's Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Grzegorz
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Woszczek
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease; D000818:Animals; D001249:Asthma; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases; D035843:Biomedical Research; D003550:Cystic Fibrosis; D055808:Drug Discovery; D006801:Humans; D008107:Liver Diseases; D023421:Models, Animal