Policy on Animal Care and Use

Background

Astellas’ business philosophy is to contribute toward improving the health of people around the world through the provision of innovative and reliable pharmaceutical products. Astellas takes animal welfare seriously, while also recognizing that drug discovery research that responsibly involves animals contributes to the advancement of medicine that fills critical unmet medical needs.

Policy

Astellas complies with applicable local laws and regulations on animal care and use and with internationally recognized standards.

 

Astellas will endeavor to meet the “4R Principles” regarding responsible involvement of animals in the development of medicines, which include: Developing non-animal testing alternatives and replacing animals of phylogenetically lower species (Replacement); Reducing the number of animals involved to the minimum necessary to achieve the scientific purpose (Reduction); Avoiding the infliction of distress on animals wherever possible (Refinement); and Scientifically and ethically justifying animal use in light of their significance, necessity, predictability and other criteria (Responsibility).

 

An Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) has been established at each location within Astellas where animal experiments are conducted to:

  • Ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and standards
  • Confirm, assess and monitor the 4R Principles
  • Review and approve experimental protocol
  • Provide all personnel involved in the care and use of animals with adequate education and training

In addition, the Corporate IACUC has been also established as the ruling body of all IACUCs within Astellas.

 

To further assure that animals are cared for and used humanely in accordance with high ethical standards, all Astellas animal facilities have been accredited by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC) International.

 

In cases where animal experiments are outsourced to an organization outside Astellas, we shall ensure that the outsourced organization complies with applicable laws, regulations and other standards on animal care and use. In addition, we shall endeavor to have them comply with Astellas’ standards to the fullest extent possible.