Americans For Medical Advancement
Encyclopedia
Americans For Medical Advancement (AFMA) is a 501(c)(3) science
-based patient advocacy
organization dedicated to improving policy and decision-making regarding the use of the animal
model in biomedical research
and drug testing. They oppose the use of animals only as models for predicting human response. For example ADMET (absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination, and toxicity), efficacy
testing, and medical research where results from animal-based research are assumed predictive for humans. Scientifically, such uses are known as using animals as causal analogical models or as predictive models.
Ray Greek MD is president and, along his wife Jean Greek, a veterinarian
, co-founder of AFMA. Board members include Lawrence Hansen MD, Professor of Neuroscience and Pathology, University of California, San Diego and Mark Rice MD, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Florida.
Equally important, in their opinion, is the fact that animals can be successfully used in many other areas of science such as basic science research and comparative research. AFMA does not oppose the use of animals in research in these areas. This distinction separates them from the animal protection groups. Most organizations that oppose testing on animals do so on ethical grounds related to the suffering of animals. AFMA has a unique mission in illustrating the lack of validity
in the animal model in drug testing and animal-based research for human disease. Although some supporters may be pro-animal, many are not. The unifying factor for their supporters is their argument that the animal model is not valid for predicting drug response and other features of human disease.
Critics of the group, such as the similarly named Americans for Medical Progress, dismiss it as a shell organization that "exists primarily as a website to publicize the views and promote the book" of founders Ray and Jean Greek, and assert that it ignores the significant medical advances made through animal-based research.
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
-based patient advocacy
Patient advocacy
A Patient Advocate acts as a support structure and if legally contracted to do so may act as a liaison between a patient and their Health Care Provider. Most health care professionals see themselves as advocates for their patients, however their time and scope are limited by their job function...
organization dedicated to improving policy and decision-making regarding the use of the animal
Animal
Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...
model in biomedical research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
and drug testing. They oppose the use of animals only as models for predicting human response. For example ADMET (absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination, and toxicity), efficacy
Efficacy
Efficacy is the capacity to produce an effect. It has different specific meanings in different fields. In medicine, it is the ability of an intervention or drug to reproduce a desired effect in expert hands and under ideal circumstances.- Healthcare :...
testing, and medical research where results from animal-based research are assumed predictive for humans. Scientifically, such uses are known as using animals as causal analogical models or as predictive models.
Ray Greek MD is president and, along his wife Jean Greek, a veterinarian
Veterinarian
A veterinary physician, colloquially called a vet, shortened from veterinarian or veterinary surgeon , is a professional who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals....
, co-founder of AFMA. Board members include Lawrence Hansen MD, Professor of Neuroscience and Pathology, University of California, San Diego and Mark Rice MD, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Florida.
Aims
AFMA wants to see drugs come to market faster, safer and cheaper and want to see medical research funding directed to more relevant areas of research. As such they recommend:- reevaluating the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and United States Environmental Protection Agency requirements for animal testing, in so far as these requirements assume that animal models predict human responses;
- that granting bodies like the National Institutes of HealthNational Institutes of HealthThe National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
stop encouraging “animal models of…” research, as this approach assumes animals are predictive models and is therefore inconsistent with current scientific knowledge.
Equally important, in their opinion, is the fact that animals can be successfully used in many other areas of science such as basic science research and comparative research. AFMA does not oppose the use of animals in research in these areas. This distinction separates them from the animal protection groups. Most organizations that oppose testing on animals do so on ethical grounds related to the suffering of animals. AFMA has a unique mission in illustrating the lack of validity
Validity
In logic, argument is valid if and only if its conclusion is entailed by its premises, a formula is valid if and only if it is true under every interpretation, and an argument form is valid if and only if every argument of that logical form is valid....
in the animal model in drug testing and animal-based research for human disease. Although some supporters may be pro-animal, many are not. The unifying factor for their supporters is their argument that the animal model is not valid for predicting drug response and other features of human disease.
Critics of the group, such as the similarly named Americans for Medical Progress, dismiss it as a shell organization that "exists primarily as a website to publicize the views and promote the book" of founders Ray and Jean Greek, and assert that it ignores the significant medical advances made through animal-based research.