Animal testing
Regulatory authorities around the world require pharmaceutical companies to test all new drugs before they’re launched, and there is currently no alternative to including some animal testing as part of this process. It’s essential both for scientific reasons and to safeguard the volunteers and patients who take part in the trials.
We support the fundamental principle of the ‘3Rs’ in relation to animal testing: in other words the Reduction of the amount of tests undertaken, the Refinement of those tests, and ultimately, the Replacement of animal testing by other methods such as new in silico1 and in vitro2 technologies. The number of animals used in drug development has reduced over the past three decades as a result of industry initiatives like this.
1 Defined as performed on computer on via computer simulation
2 A procedure performed not in a living organism but in a controlled environment such as a test tube or petri dish
Responsibility
It’s at the core of everything that we do at Shire. Read about our involvement in our communities, and our initiatives promoting responsibility.
Did you know...
At Shire, we strive to be as brave as the patients we help. “Brave” is an emotion that captures the spirit of our culture. It’s so important we incorporate it into how we assess, reward, recognize & promote our people.
