Veterinary education required from the perspective of CROs

Abstract

Veterinarians are widely active in contract research organizations (CROs) and play an important role. In the non-clinical studies on drug development, laboratory animals are widely used. The studies sometime include special procedures involving surgical operations, and CT, MRI, echo, etc. have been used for imaging diagnosis. Such areas have veterinarians performing the operating procedures or conducting experiments under supervision and guidance. The most important endpoint of toxicity studies using laboratory animals is histopathological examination, which is mostly performed by veterinarians who specialize in veterinary pathology. A veterinarian, who is expected to have systematic knowledge, can play an active role as study director, who engages in the planning of non-clinical studies, the interpretation and evaluation of study data, and the preparation of final reports. In recent years, due to the growing momentum for animal welfare, clinical veterinarians actively intervene, and make diagnosis and treatment in laboratory animals when they show anormal conditions, even during the course of studies. In order to fulfill these diverse roles in CROs, the necessary veterinary education is tried to be discussed.