Drugs research hampered by substandard animal testing procedures

Survey of thousands of animal studies for drugs to combat disease finds majority not rigorous enough, leading to trials that waste time, money and suffering

The search for new drugs to combat major diseases is being set back by shoddy animal research, according to work by two teams of scientists.

An Edinburgh University survey of thousands of animal studies found that the majority were not rigorous enough to rule out effects that routinely inflate the benefits of new treatments.