BioCentury
ARTICLE | Tools & Techniques

Pfizer's shifting models

How Pfizer is shifting to more complex animal models for oncology research

November 5, 2015 8:00 AM UTC

While researchers have been complaining for years that the animal models used in oncology are close to useless for predicting how a molecule will behave in humans, few companies have made serious moves to challenge the norm. Pfizer Inc. has decided it's time to rethink its preclinical strategy and is moving away from standard xenografts in favor of more complex models that encompass the heterogeneity and tumor-immune system interactions found in human cancers.

Rushing to the clinic has cost the industry dearly, according to Robert Abraham, SVP and group head of oncology at Pfizer's Rinat unit...