The beneficial role of companion animals in translational pain research

B Duncan X Lascelles; Dottie C Brown; Michael G Conzemius; Marie Gill; Michael L Oshinsky; Michelle Sharkey

doi:10.3389/fpain.2022.1002204

The beneficial role of companion animals in translational pain research

Front Pain Res (Lausanne). 2022 Sep 5:3:1002204. doi: 10.3389/fpain.2022.1002204. eCollection 2022.

Authors

B Duncan X Lascelles^{1

2

3

4}, Dottie C Brown⁵, Michael G Conzemius⁶, Marie Gill⁷, Michael L Oshinsky⁷, Michelle Sharkey⁸

Affiliations

¹ Translational Research in Pain, Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States.
² Comparative Pain Research and Education Center, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States.
³ Thurston Arthritis Centre, UNC School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, United States.
⁴ Center for Translational Pain Research, Department of Anesthesiology, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States.
⁵ Global Efficacy & Model Development, Elanco Animal Health, Greenfield, IN, United States.
⁶ Clinical Investigation Center, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, United States.
⁷ National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke/National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States.
⁸ Center for Veterinary Medicine Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, MD, United States.

Abstract

The use of spontaneous painful disease in companion pet animals has been highlighted as one of the changes that could be made to help improve translation of basic science to new therapeutics, acting as a bridge between preclinical and clinical studies, with the goal of accelerating the approval of new therapeutics. This review focuses on the utility of companion pet dogs for translational research by reviewing what outcome measures can be measured, and importantly, the relevance of these outcome measures to human translational research. It also details the practical considerations involved in incorporating companion dogs into human therapeutic development.

Keywords: canine; drug develoment process; model; pain; translational.

Publication types

Review