Based on results from the past ten years, this ready reference systematically describes how to prepare, carry out, and evaluate animal studies for cancer therapies, addressing the widely recognized lack of reliable and reproducible results.
Following a short historical introduction and a discussion of the ethics surrounding animal experiments, the book describes correct study design as well as the handling and housing of animals. It then goes on to describe the animal models available for different cancer types, from natural cancer models in mice and dogs to humanized animals. An evaluation of previously unpublished long-term data from the Swiss canine and feline cancer registry is also included. The final part of the book reviews the lessons learned over the last decade on how to interpret data from animal studies for improving human therapy and gives recommendations for future drug development.


Marianne Martic is a senior assistant at the Transdisciplinary Laboratorium Collegium Helveticum, a joint institution of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technolgy (ETH) and the University of Zurich (UZH). She joined the institution after obtaining her degree at the radiopharmaceutical institute of ETH Zürich, where she has worked on animal experimental protocols in the field of positron emission tomography (PET). Her current research is focused on the systematic reviewing and meta-analysis of preclinical animal experiments.

August Schubiger is a senior fellow at the Transdisciplinary Laboratorium Collegium Helveticum, a joint institution of ETH and UZH. He has been full Professor of Radiopharmacy at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences at ETH Zurich and headed the Center for Radiopharmaceutical Science of the ETH, the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and at the Clinic and Polyclinic for Nuclear Medicine at the UZH until 2010. He is currently involved in the project 'Drug development - significance and predictive value of animal testing'.