Novartis is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. Novartis and The Scripps Research Institute have a “strategic alliance,” and collaborate in animal experiments.

Novartis is well-known in the United Kingdom for being responsible for one of the most horrific experiments on animals ever exposed. In September 2000, the Daily Express newspaper in England ran the first of a series of stories about pig-to-primate transplantation experiments paid for by a subsidiary of Novartis (Imutran), and conducted at the infamous Huntingdon Life Sciences.

Novartis remains one of the largest customers of Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS). Click here to learn more about HLS.

In the xenotransplantation experiments, conducted between 1994 and 2000, hearts and kidneys from genetically engineered pigs were implanted into the necks, abdomens and chests of monkeys and baboons. Hundreds of primates were subjected to the grotesque experiments. A quarter of the animals died on the operating table or within a few days; a baboon who survived for 39 days with a pig heart was considered a “success” by the company.

Shortly after the experiments were exposed, and under intense scrutiny by the media and animal rights activists, Novartis closed Imutran and moved its xenotransplantation research to the U.S., where they formed a new company (Immerge BioTherapeutics, based in Boston). For more information about the xenotransplantation experiments, click here.

In addition to concerns about animal suffering, xenotransplantation also poses a serious threat to human health because of the risk of transferring deadly animal viruses to the human population. A 2000 study led by Scripps scientist Daniel Salomon found that viruses crossed the species barrier during transplants (“Study Suggests Pig Organ Transplants Could Imperil Humans;” Los Angeles Times, Aug 17, 2000).

Despite killing thousands of animals in xenotransplantation experiments, scientists have not been able to get monkeys to live beyond a few months. But there is big money to be made in animal-to-human organ, cell and tissue transplantation, and Novartis still hopes to make such transplants a reality.

Researcher Daniel Salomon has continued work, with Immerge Biotherapeautics, and scientists at Oxford University, genetically engineering animals to be better “animal donors.”

Researchers from The Scripps Research Institute and Novartis have collaborated on experiments using chimpanzees. Scientists from Scripps (Athina Markou) and Novartis are also currently collaborating on a study of depression and nicotine addiction.

The Scripps Research Institute and England's University of Oxford collaborate on a joint graduate program in biology, chemistry, and biochemistry.

Scripps' President Richard Lerner is an honorary member of Oxford’s Department of Biochemistry. The chairman of Oxford’s biochemistry department is a member of Scripps' board of scientific governors.

Like Scripps, Oxford University is attempting to build a new animal research facility. But Oxford’s £18 million laboratory has been stalled since July 2004, when the construction company and concrete supplier both pulled out of the project after a campaign by animal rights activists determined to halt any expansion of animal research in the country.

Oxford’s building, if it is ever finished, will be linked to its notorious Department of Experimental Psychology. This department has been responsible for some of the worst animal experiments carried out in England, including brain research on monkeys.

For more information about the campaign challenging Oxford University's decision to build a new animal research center, click here.

The skeleton of Oxford University's primate lab.

Media:
“Builder abandons animal lab work” (BBC)
“Activists force contractor to quit animal lab project” (Guardian newspaper)