Animal welfare
Ethical commitment to animal welfare
At TAD, we use in vivo models to study the complexity of living systems and evaluate the therapeutic potential of new medicines, focusing on aspects that cannot yet be replicated by alternative methods. Our approach is guided by strict compliance with Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes, as well as national regulations enforced by the Department of Sustainability and the Natural Environment (Biscay County Government, Basque Country, Spain). TAD has joined the Agreement on Openness on Animal Research, promoted from the Federation of Scientific Societies in Spain (COSCE), with the collaboration of the European Association of Research Animals (EARA), and launched on 20 September 2016.
We are firmly committed to animal welfare and the 3Rs principle—Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement—and all procedures are reviewed and approved by our independent Ethics Committee (TAD CEEA) and the competent authorities. By combining scientific rigor with responsible practices, we aim to continuously optimize our in vivo models and contribute to the advancement of high-quality, ethical biomedical research.
See the Institutional
Statement on the
Use of Research
Animals
The Art of Discovery has joined the Agreement on Openness on Animal Research, promoted from the Federation of Scientific Societies in Spain (COSCE), with the collaboration of the European Association of Research Animals (EARA), and launched on 20 September 2016.
We are convinced that animal experimentation plays a fundamental role in the discovery of the underlying biological mechanisms of disease, and in the development of medical treatments. Without research in animals, we would not have most of the medicines, antibiotics, vaccines and surgical techniques available nowadays in human and veterinary medicine.
An important part of the research undertaken at The Art of Discovery aims at contributing to the improvement of human health and wellbeing and is carried out thanks to the use of animals, for example in malaria and cancer drug discovery.
The welfare of animals used for research purposes is of paramount relevance for The Art of Discovery, as well as the strict compliance and respect to the current legislation on the protection of animals used in research and for other scientific purposes, including education. Our aim is to achieve the highest standards in animal welfare, not only from the point of view of our moral responsibility on them, but also because we are convinced that we could not achieve research excellence without proper animal welfare. Our experiments with animals follow the legal standards and are assessed by an Ethics Committee on Animal Experimentation that promotes the use of alternative methods, the reduction in the number of animals used and the refinement in the experimental protocols applied. Not a single research project requiring the use of animals could start without the appropriate and required Ethics assessment and the eventual authorization from the competent authorities.
The Art of Discovery also ensures that the personnel involved in animal care and researchers do have the adequate education and training and the required professional skills, and that all resources are provided to properly keep research animals in terms of facilities, husbandry, wellbeing and veterinary care.
