Microbial substitute for animal testing.

• Position: Pharmaceuticals research

A method of testing pharmaceutical drugs that substitutes microbial cells for laboratory animals is being developed by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin. The technology involves the use of fungi for studies of the metabolism of drugs. Though not intended entirely to replace the use of mammals such as rats and guinea pigs for the testing of drugs, the use of fungi could reduce the over-all need for laboratory animals. notes Patrick J. Davis, professor of medical chemistry. "The ultimate benefit would be the availability of an easily handled, non-mammalian, very predictable system for facilitating the development of drugs. This should result in a reduction in animal demand but will certainly not substitute for doing all animal testing. You must eventually look at metabolism of each new drug in animals, just as you must eventually look at its metabolism in people before you administer the drugs on a routine basis to patients."

The technology grew out of the use of microorganisms in organic synthesis, "In the process of doing that, we discovered that a select group of fungi have the ability to metabolize a wide variety of drugs in much the same...