Mark Birrell
Imperial college London and AstraZeneca
SUMMARY
Time and time again I hear “preclinical in vivo models are not predictive of clinical results” and they are blamed for the failure of research programs. Having spent 3 decades working with these models, it does tend to grind. To be fair, the statement isn’t incorrect, its more that “we” should be realistic of what the rodent models can really tell us. In my view the in vivo systems are very useful for PK/PD modelling i.e. looking for target engagement and then a related function, and linking that to exposure/dose. It’s when it comes to modelling diseases that the models can fail: the lung structure, the cells, the physiology, the immunology, the mediators etc are different in rodents compare to man. Add to that is we, as yet, do not know what triggers the majority of human respiratory diseases, and, indeed they are likely to multifactorial – precision medicine is the rallying cry for the majority of on-going projects.