Transgenic animals

The astonishing scientific achievement of the complete sequencing of the human genome has revealed that it contains about 25 000 genes. Better knowledge of the role of these genes in human health and disease may help us ultimately to treat diseases that are currently difficult to treat or for which there is no treatment.

Researchers use two recently developed, large-scale analysis techniques to better understand gene function and establish a link between gene(s) and a disease: genomics, the study of gene function at a whole-genome level, and proteomics, the study of a full complement of proteins in the human body.

In an alternative and synergistic effort, researchers use biotechnology and genetic engineering to construct transgenic animals that allow the study of gene function in an in vivo (physiologically relevant) environment.

Transgenic animals are developed by transferring specific genes, including human genes, into animals. In addition to studying normal gene function, transgenic animals are an excellent model to study a gene's role in a disease and can also serve as in vivo models to test potential new medicines that target a specific gene.

Transgenic animals - in which there has been a deliberate modification of the genome - are therefore a unique and indispensable part of modern disease research for which there are no alternatives. At Novartis, for example, we are obtaining new information on diabetes and Alzheimer's disease thanks to studies with transgenic animals.

Our use of transgenic animals is governed by the same ethical and welfare standards as nontransgenic animals.

Novartis is aware that the use of transgenic animals in pharmaceutical research raises ethical and moral concerns that should be openly discussed. These include environmental and biosafety concerns regarding the wider ecosystem, the morality of crossing the species barrier and the right to patent living beings, among others. Novartis welcomes responsible public debate on biotechnology, its applications and the benefits it provides.