The article by Hoos et al. (1) in this issue of the Journal makes three recommendations about endpoints in immunotherapy trials: 1) cellular immune response assays are highly variable and require standardization; 2) immunotherapies may evince unusual patterns of antitumor response and therefore require different endpoints; and 3) immunotherapy may have a delayed benefit on survival, which requi...

Animal use resulting in harm or death remains common within veterinary education, in disciplines such as surgery, physiology, biochemistry, anatomy, pharmacology, and parasitology. However, many non-harmful alternatives now exist, including computer simulations, high quality videos, 'ethically-sourced cadavers,' such as from animals euthanized for medical reasons, preserved specimens, models an...

conducted at the University of British Colombia. These studies have used the gradual fill methods proposed by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) in an attempt to further clarify aversion associated with carbon dioxide. We have contacted the authors of this work and understand that they will also be responding to Dr Wood’s letter. Therefore, we will leave the discussion of these ...

Two new Korean laws regulating animal welfare and the humane use of animals in science came into effect in 2008 and 2009. Both these laws impose ethical committee review prior to the performance of animal experiments in research, testing and education. This study briefly summarises the new Korean laws, and investigates the current status regarding the numbers of animals used, the alternatives t...

In this paper we discuss statistical considerations regarding endpoints in preventive vaccine trials. Brief discussion is given to preclinical, Phase I, and Phase II trials, with the bulk of attention paid to endpoint choice and analysis in Phase III efficacy trials. In addition to traditional efficacy measures of vaccine effects for immunized individuals, consideration is given to waning, stra...