Issues of Animal Welfare Regulations on Pharmacy Education and Research in India

Biomedical research is essential to the health and well-being of our society. Animal use for biomedical research has a long history and is routinely performed in new drug discovery and development processes. Animal experiments are an integral part of the curriculum for students in the life sciences, including pharmacy, to learn how to conduct animal experiments. These experiments may cause pain and distress to the animals. Laws and regulations have been enacted to make it illegal to cause undue pain or suffering to animals. These guidelines provide that due and full consideration should be given to alternative technologies not involving animal testing. Despite the movement to minimize animal use in research, pieces of evidence show that there has been a continuous increase in the worldwide use of laboratory animals over 10 years, from 115.2 animals to 192.1 million. The lack of suitable animal-alternative technologies and unavailability of required infrastructures are some of the reasons for animal use. As per directives of the University Grant Commission, the Pharmacy Council of India has decided to prohibit animal experimentation in pharmacy education. This adversely affected teaching and research activities in pharmacy institutions. As a result, the number of seats available for the postgraduate course (Master of Pharmacy) in Pharmacology is decreasing every year. In 2021, the highest number of seats are available for Pharmaceutics (9510, 35%) followed by that for the Pharmacology (4620, 17%). This article mainly focuses on the background of Indian legislation for animal experimentation and the impact of these regulations on animal experiments for pharmacy education and research in India.