Clinical evaluation of new products for small animals

Abstract

Extract

The discovery and development of sulphonamides and antibiotics marked the beginning of serious efforts to study in depth the efficacy and other sequelae of therapeutic agents. Before the sulphonamide/antibiotic era, pharmacological tests earned out on laboratory animals were considered adequate for most medicaments. Now, more exact information is required about modern drugs used in man and animals. Staff of several disciplines are needed to devise laboratory techniques, controlled experiments, methods of measuring results, and their statistical analysis. Moreover, tests with laboratory animals were not enough, and the much more difficult task of clinical evaluation had to be devised. This has led to a specialization in the testing of drugs by clinicians in human and veterinary medicine. A new discipline, Clinical Pharmacology, has been established for the scientific evaluation of therapeutics.