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{{POV|date=February 2014}}
{{POV|date=February 2014}}
'''Americans For Medical Advancement''' ('''AFMA''') is a not-for-profit, [[science]]-based, [[patient advocacy]] organization dedicated to improving healthcare through biomedical research. It was founded by Ray Greek, MD and his wife, Jean Greek, DVM.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.afma-curedisease.org/do.aspx|title=Americans for Medical Advancement|last=|first=|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=}}</ref>


The organization opposes the use of animals as [[causal]] analogical models<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bmcmedethics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6939-13-16|title=The Nuremberg Code Subverts Human Health and Safety by Requiring Animal Modeling|last=|first=|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=}}</ref>, or predictive models, for human response, and believes that using animals as a basis for the human response to drugs is not a safe method of development.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.afma-curedisease.org/|title=Americans for Medical Advancement|last=|first=|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=}}</ref> For example, [[efficacy]] testing, [[medical research]], and ADMET (absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination, and toxicity) are results from animal-based research that were assumed predictive for humans.
'''Americans For Medical Advancement''' ('''AFMA''') is a [[501(c)]](3) [[science]]-based [[patient advocacy]] organization dedicated to improving policy and decision-making regarding the use of the [[animal]] model in [[biomedical]] [[research]] and drug testing.<ref>For more on what AFMA stands for see website for Americans For Medical Advancement at http://www.curedisease.com</ref> They oppose the use of animals only as models for predicting human response. For example, ADMET (absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination, and toxicity), [[efficacy]] testing, and [[medical research]] where results from animal-based research are assumed predictive for humans. Scientifically, such uses are known as using animals as [[causal]] analogical models or as predictive models.<ref>see ''Animal Models in Light of Evolution'' by Shanks and Greek. Brown Walker 2009</ref>


Americans for Medical Advancement conducts its experiments through critical thinking and the use of [[evolutionary biology]], complexity science, genetics, and [[personalized medicine]].<ref name=":0" /> None of these methods require testing on animals.
Ray Greek MD is president and, along his wife Jean Greek, a [[veterinarian]], co-founder of AFMA. Board members include Lawrence Hansen MD, Professor of Neuroscience and Pathology, University of California, San Diego and Mark Rice MD, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Florida.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afma-curedisease.org/directors.html |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2011-02-14 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101003101154/http://www.afma-curedisease.org/directors.html |archivedate=2010-10-03 |df= }}</ref>


AFMA hopes to improve policy and decision-making regarding the use of the animal model in the testing of drugs and treatments for the safety of human use. The organization does not oppose the use of animals in other aspects of science, and stresses that it is not an animal rights group.

President, Ray Greek MD, says, “There are areas where animals are very useful in science and areas where they are not,” and that the organization “explores the differences between the two.”<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.afma-curedisease.org/tsmt.aspx|title=Americans for Medical Advancement|last=|first=|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=}}</ref> What sets it apart is that it focuses “on the harm that is done to humans” and that animal protectionists are concerned about the harm done to animals.
==Aims==
==Aims==
AFMA wants to see drugs come to market faster, safer and cheaper and want to see medical research funding directed to more relevant areas of research. As such they recommend:
AFMA wants to see drugs come to market faster, safer and cheaper and want to see medical research funding directed to more relevant areas of research. As such they recommend:

Revision as of 14:14, 25 April 2018

Americans For Medical Advancement (AFMA) is a not-for-profit, science-based, patient advocacy organization dedicated to improving healthcare through biomedical research. It was founded by Ray Greek, MD and his wife, Jean Greek, DVM.[1]

The organization opposes the use of animals as causal analogical models[2], or predictive models, for human response, and believes that using animals as a basis for the human response to drugs is not a safe method of development.[3] For example, efficacy testing, medical research, and ADMET (absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination, and toxicity) are results from animal-based research that were assumed predictive for humans.

Americans for Medical Advancement conducts its experiments through critical thinking and the use of evolutionary biology, complexity science, genetics, and personalized medicine.[1] None of these methods require testing on animals.

AFMA hopes to improve policy and decision-making regarding the use of the animal model in the testing of drugs and treatments for the safety of human use. The organization does not oppose the use of animals in other aspects of science, and stresses that it is not an animal rights group.

President, Ray Greek MD, says, “There are areas where animals are very useful in science and areas where they are not,” and that the organization “explores the differences between the two.”[4] What sets it apart is that it focuses “on the harm that is done to humans” and that animal protectionists are concerned about the harm done to animals.

Aims

AFMA wants to see drugs come to market faster, safer and cheaper and want to see medical research funding directed to more relevant areas of research. As such they recommend:

  1. reevaluating the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and United States Environmental Protection Agency requirements for animal testing, in so far as these requirements assume that animal models predict human responses;
  2. that granting bodies like the National Institutes of Health stop encouraging “animal models of…” research, as this approach assumes animals are predictive models and is therefore inconsistent with current scientific knowledge.

Equally important, in their opinion, is the fact that animals can be successfully used in many other areas of science such as basic science research and comparative research. AFMA does not oppose the use of animals in research in these areas. This distinction separates them from the animal protection groups. Most organizations that oppose testing on animals do so on ethical grounds related to the suffering of animals. AFMA has a unique mission in illustrating the lack of validity in the animal model in drug testing and animal-based research for human disease. Although some supporters may be pro-animal, many are not. The unifying factor for their supporters is their argument that the animal model is not valid for predicting drug response and other features of human disease.[5][6]

Critics of the group, such as the similarly named Americans for Medical Progress, dismiss it as a shell organization that "exists primarily as a website to publicize the views and promote the book" of founders Ray and Jean Greek, and assert that it ignores the significant medical advances made through animal-based research. [citation needed]

References

  1. ^ a b "Americans for Medical Advancement". {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  2. ^ "The Nuremberg Code Subverts Human Health and Safety by Requiring Animal Modeling". {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  3. ^ "Americans for Medical Advancement". {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  4. ^ "Americans for Medical Advancement". {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  5. ^ Shanks and Greek. Animal Models in Light of Evolution. BrownWalker. 2009.
  6. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-02-01. Retrieved 2011-02-14. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  1. Americans for Medical Advancement https://www.afma-curedisease.org/
  2. Americans for Medical Advancement https://www.afma-curedisease.org/do.aspx
  3. Americans for Medical Advancement https://www.afma-curedisease.org/tsmt.aspx
  4. Greek, Ray. “Animal Rights and Medical Research.” Skeptic (Altadena, CA), no. 2, 2008, EBSCOhost, .ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/loginurl=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direc   t=true&db=edsgao&AN=edsgcl.182976240&site=eds-live.
  5. Greek, Ray. “Comment on “Lessons on Toxicology: Developing a 21st -Century Paradigm for Medical Research.” Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 124, no. 5, May 2016, p A84.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4858404/
  6. Greek, Ray “The Nuremberg Code Subverts Human Health and Safety by Requiring Animal Modeling.” BMC Medical Ethics, vol. 13, no. 1, Jan 2012, p16. https://bmcmedethics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6939-13-16
  7. Greek, Ray and Mark J. Rice. “Animal Models and Conserved Processes.” Theoretical Biology and Medical Modelling, vol. 9, no. 1, Jan. 2012, p. 40. https://tbiomed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1742-4682-9-40

Americans for Medical Advancement https://www.afma-curedisease.org/

Americans for Medical Advancement https://www.afma-curedisease.org/do.aspx Americans for Medical Advancement https://www.afma-curedisease.org/tsmt.aspx Greek, Ray. “Animal Rights and Medical Research.” Skeptic (Altadena, CA), no. 2, 2008, EBSCOhost, .ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/loginurl=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direc   t=true&db=edsgao&AN=edsgcl.182976240&site=eds-live. Greek, Ray. “Comment on “Lessons on Toxicology: Developing a 21st -Century Paradigm for Medical Research.” Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 124, no. 5, May 2016, p A84.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4858404/ Greek, Ray “The Nuremberg Code Subverts Human Health and Safety by Requiring Animal Modeling.” BMC Medical Ethics, vol. 13, no. 1, Jan 2012, p16. https://bmcmedethics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6939-13-16 Greek, Ray and Mark J. Rice. “Animal Models and Conserved Processes.” Theoretical Biology and Medical Modelling, vol. 9, no. 1, Jan. 2012, p. 40. https://tbiomed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1742-4682-9-40

External links

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