'Treating Naturally Occurring Disease’, explained by Founder, Professor Noel Fitzpatrick

Reviewed by Danielle Ellis, B.Sc.Sep 27 2024

A link to the news story on Humanimal Trust’s website can be found here. The following is a transcript of the Humanimal Trust’s video.

A large part of the work of Humanimal Trust in delivering One Medicine is aiming to fund studies which examine spontaneous and naturally occurring diseases in animals. Crucially, that study must be in the animal’s best interests. We aim to help humans and animals with the culture of mutual reciprocity. We do not fund any research that involves experimental animals. We advocate studying naturally occurring disease in animals and using that data to help advance both human and animal medicine rather than artificially inducing any disease in a healthy animal.

We realize that this change will take time. We are committed to collaborating and cooperating with organisations that share our long term goals, whilst recognising that current regulations determine the framework in which they have to operate.

At the same time though, we seek engagement from Government and the respective clinical governing bodies of both human and animal medicine, to embrace the philosophy of reciprocity. You see, if ethically well-designed and legally approved studies on diseases which naturally occur in animals could become the norm and are not prejudiced by the labeling of the word experiment, then we are convinced that this new paradigm can replace, reduce and refine current experimental models over time.

Take cancer for example. It affects humans and animals alike. Dogs, my patients, have long been considered our best friends, but they don't just share our lives, they also share all the risk factors for certain diseases like cancer, the same as us. Canine lymphoma, possibly the most common cancer in dogs, has relatively similar characteristics to human Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. A long study some years ago concluded that around one in eight golden retrievers will develop canine lymphoma, whilst Cancer Research UK estimates that one in 52 males and one in 71 females are at risk of being diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Both species needing better, more effective ways to treat similar diseases, and clinical trials with canine patients have been helping to fast track the development of new treatments for humans with these same diseases over several years now.

Another example of how diseases are very similar between animals and humans could be degenerative disc disease in the spine, from which humans, dogs and cats frequently suffer. I sure know this because I suffer from it myself and so do many of my veterinary patients. Now, the surgery for spinal disc disease is very similar in dogs and humans. Decompression surgery or the placement of implants in the spine, very similar, as is the disease mechanism of osteoarthritis, for example, very similar in dogs and in humans. And so are the oral drugs, the injectable drugs and the biologic treatments, the joint replacements to treat this osteoarthritis. But research in human spinal surgery and joint surgery is heavily reliant on purpose bred laboratory animals in which spinal and joint disease is inflicted on a perfectly healthy animal to yield data on treatment efficacy for human patients. This is despite the evidence that naturally occurring disease in the spine and joints is a superior model by comparison with experimentally induced disease.

Now, as a vet operating on spines and joints every week of my life, I know that there is greater natural homology between these diseases in my patients and in humans than there could be with any experimentally induced disease. And also the natural time delay between the injury and the treatment in my patients much better reflects the progress of the disease in human patients and would allow for a better assessment of treatment responses for any proposed intervention, medical or surgical.  Pathogenesis - how a disease happens, pathophysiology - how the disease evolves, and prognosis - what the likely outcome is. They are the three P’s of my daily work and the daily work of any human clinician, and I know for sure that for joint and spinal diseases, well-designed ethically based trials studying naturally occurring diseases in animal patients would benefit both animal patients and also contribute significantly towards the understanding of treatments for human patients.

And that is why doctors, vets, nurses, scientists and researchers must collaborate and share knowledge. I mean, imagine how powerful that collaboration could be. Imagine how much suffering and pain it could alleviate for all patients and that is why we call on all medical professionals to join us by combining their skills and their knowledge, their research and their studies for the benefit of all species. We are so much stronger together and now is the time to act and deliver One Medicine for all.