Gilead Sciences, Inc. Praised for Commitment on Chimpanzee Research
The Humane Society of the United States welcomes the pharmaceutical company’s decision
The Humane Society of the United States applauds Gilead Sciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Foster City, Calif., for agreeing to not use chimpanzees for research and development. The decision is the latest in a series of recent moves to phase out the use of chimpanzees in research in the United States.
In November 2012, The HSUS submitted a shareholder proposal for consideration at Gilead’s 2013 annual shareholder meeting which urged the company to end the use of chimpanzees in favor of available alternative research methods, citing the company’s previous use of chimpanzees to test a drug developed to treat hepatitis B and C viruses.
Following the submission, Gilead representatives reached out to The HSUS to confirm that the company is not currently using chimpanzees and commited to not using them in the future. As a result, The HSUS has withdrawn the shareholder proposal.
“The Humane Society of the United States thanks Gilead for their consideration of the proposal and applauds them for taking this important step to protect chimpanzees in laboratories,” said Kathleen Conlee, vice president of animal research issues for The HSUS.
Gilead joins other pharmaceutical companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Idenix Pharmaceuticals and Novo Nordisk which have adopted policies against the use of chimpanzees in research.
Facts:
Approximately 950 chimpanzees remain in five laboratories in the
United States — the only remaining developed country that
continues to use of these animals for invasive research and
testing.
In December 2011, the Institute of Medicine and National Research
Council released a report that concluded chimpanzees are not
necessary for most biomedical and behavioral research, including
therapies for people infected with hepatitis B and C, and could not
identify any area of current biomedical research for which
chimpanzee use is essential.
In December 2012 NIH announced that more than 100 federally owned
chimpanzees in laboratories (approximately 20 percent of the
federally owned population) will be retired to Chimp Haven, the
national chimpanzee sanctuary, within the next year.
Immediately following the release of the Institute of Medicine
report, the National Institutes of Health halted any new funding
for chimpanzee research and established a Working Group to advise
them on the implementation of the IOM report findings. The Working
Group is expected to present their recommendations on January
22.
Media Contact: Niki Ianni: 301-548-7793;
nianni@humanesociety.org
Posted: January 2013
