Global Citizenship

Our Priorities > Innovating for the Future Animal Welfare in Biomedical Research

Abbott is committed to the highest standards of humane care and treatment of our laboratory animals. Our laboratory animal research programs and facilities meet or exceed U.S. and European Union regulations, as well as those in other countries.

While animal testing is critically important in advancing health care research, Abbott works constantly to minimize the number and frequency of animal tests required and to develop new testing methods and programs to minimize the need for animal models. Abbott’s Corporate Animal Welfare Committee, composed of animal welfare experts from across the company, guides our position and global policies on animal testing. Abbott’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees serve as review boards that independently evaluate and approve our internal scientific protocols before testing in animals can begin.

Abbott also has sought and maintained accreditation for all of our animal research programs from the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International (AAALAC), the organization that helps ensure optimal animal care and use practices as set forth in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and other international standards and regulations for animal welfare. AAALAC accreditation is entirely voluntary and is widely considered to be the best way to meet and maintain high standards of animal care and use.

The 3Rs

We employ the 3Rs approach to animal research by looking for ways to Refine, Reduce and Replace the use of animals. Whenever possible, we adopt alternatives (the 3Rs) to animal research by:

• Refining experimental procedures to avoid or minimize pain or distress
• Reducing the number of animals used in any tests conducted to the minimum necessary for valid results
• Replacing the need for animal testing through nonanimal research methods

Currently, Abbott uses cell-based (in vitro) alternative methods that replace whole-animal (in vivo) testing whenever possible. When these in vitro methods show a compound to be toxic or less effective than others, that particular compound can often be eliminated from further testing in animals. However, we have an ethical obligation to fully understand the potential health benefits of our products versus the risk of negative effects.

We have several policies, committees and structures in place that allow us to effectively follow the 3Rs.

• Abbott’s Global Animal Welfare Policy guides our internal protocols.
• Abbott’s Supplier Guidelines outline expectations for our animal-related suppliers and contract laboratories – including the expectation that animal use in any testing or process should occur only after alternate methods have been fully explored and rejected.
• Abbott’s Alternatives Committee consists of international research staff and veterinarians with the aim of looking for alternative methods that we can adopt into our program.

Advancing the 3Rs Globally

To complement our own research initiatives, Abbott provides funds to numerous external organizations to help promote research in the 3Rs.

We have created several 3Rs research grants, including the Pioneering Alternatives and Animal Care Excellence Research Grant through the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine Foundation. The purpose of these grants is to fund research into alternatives, including refinements that promote animal care excellence.

Abbott also provides funds and scientific leadership to a number of not-for-profit groups focused on promoting the 3Rs, including the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing, the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research, the Scientists Center for Animal Welfare, the European Partnership for Alternatives to Animal Testing and the National Centre for the 3Rs.

We support global efforts to uphold and validate alternative methods by encouraging employees to join consortia, working groups, councils and committees that are involved in leading 3Rs efforts. Abbott employees are actively involved with groups such as:

• The IQ 3Rs Leadership Group, to promote the adoption of the 3Rs among industry peers through sharing in non-competitive areas of science and animal care use practices
• The European Center for the Validation of Alternative Methods
• Zebrafish Consortium, to assess and validate this non-mammalian reproductive toxicology assay
• Health and Environmental Sciences Institute Technical Committees, including Cardiac Safety, Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology and Genomics, which bring together experts from government, academia and industry to evaluate alternative research methods
• The Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care, International, which includes several Abbott veterinarians among its ad hoc site visitors

Policy on the Use of Chimpanzees in Animal Research

Currently, Abbott is not using chimpanzees in any research, and we have no plans to use chimpanzees in the immediate future. Abbott fully commits to not using chimpanzees except in the event that future research requires studies for which there is no other suitable model available; that cannot be performed ethically in humans; and without which important advancements will be significantly slowed or prevented.

We fully support the findings of the 2011 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report and will ensure compliance with the IOM Report’s recommendations, which highlight significant advances in the development of alternatives. A diverse group of stakeholders, from animal welfare advocates to research scientists, have applauded the IOM Report’s objective approach to assessing the need for chimpanzees as animal models. We also provide funds and products annually to Chimp Haven for the care of retired research chimpanzees.