Overview

Novartis is committed to globally achieving high standards of animal welfare whenever animals are involved in a Novartis project. To reach this goal a global Novartis Animal Welfare Organization was established in 2005 and an Animal Welfare Policy issued. Besides ethical considerations, the welfare of animals in our care is of primary concern to us for reasons of accuracy, reliability and applicability of scientific studies. Good animal welfare is a prerequisite for good science.

The Novartis Animal Welfare Policy sets out the principles governing our approach to animal welfare, which frequently exceeds the requirements of local regulations. In addition, a set of Novartis Animal Welfare Standards lay down specific requirements and procedures which have to be followed internally and by third parties in all Novartis-sponsored animal studies worldwide.

Only animals especially bred for research purposes are used for Novartis tests and experiments, with the exception of certain farm animals and fish. Before tests begin they are well cared for and kept in good health. Novartis exceeds animal welfare requirements wherever possible and we fully comply with all required inspections.

The welfare of the animals used in our studies is assured as much as possible, including aspects such as housing and care. Considerable effort has been invested in improving the physical facilities of non-human primates, for example, enabling them to live in housing groups spanning several different generations.

Our essential concern is to improve the animals' well-being. This not only benefits the animals themselves, but also improves the quality of our scientific results by decreasing levels of stress. All necessary measures for sedation, analgesia and anesthesia are used to ensure minimum discomfort, distress or pain levels for the animals on every occasion - measures used to a level that a modern hospital patient might expect.

The Novartis Animal Welfare Policy
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