§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what requirements there are for pharmaceutical companics to carry out human tissue tests in vitro prior to marketing their products.
§ Dr. MawhinneyNone. The requirement is for adequate and appropriate pharmacological and toxicological testing of proposed medicinal products before trials of such products in human subjects and before eventual marketing.
Certain accepted safety tests that are performed routinely on potential new medicines do use human cells in vitro to achieve their results. Other tests necessitate the use of animal models to reassure on safety issues, but research continues in order to ascertain whether in vitro tests could become valid substitutes.