Simple Ways To Save Time and Cost in Pharmaceutical In-Vivo Preclinical Research

Pharma group leaders are under constant pressure to accelerate R&D while keeping costs under control. As competition in drug discovery intensifies, the demand for faster results has never been greater¹. Group leaders bear the brunt of this challenge, struggling to balance budgets, timelines, and the expectations of both internal and external stakeholders.

But are these expectations realistic? How can R&D move faster while relying on traditional tools? Conventional in vivo study design is inherently inefficient, requiring lengthy and monotonous literature reviews. Even after a protocol is designed, reviewed, and approved, running the experiments remains resource-intensive and prone to failure if improperly planned. This volatility jeopardizes deadlines and puts even more pressure on researchers and group leaders.

While modern R&D increases pressure on leaders, new advancements are emerging to help ease the burden². ModernVivo provides an efficient solution to streamline in vivo study design, minimize waste, and speed up insights accelerating preclinical research workflows.

This article explores the challenges faced by in vivo study group leaders and how ModernVivo helps overcome them.

Common Challenges in Preclinical In Vivo Research

Researchers face mounting struggles in designing and performing in vivo experiments. Each of these challenges can threaten both the experiment’s success and the overall research program.

Inefficient Study Design

In vivo experiments are complex, and each parameter must be scrutinized and deliberately selected to achieve meaningful results^3,4. However, the necessary information is often buried in literature databases. Even with expertise and time investment, researchers are likely to miss crucial insights needed for a robust study. Insufficient study design reduces the chances of generating meaningful results, can negatively impact animal welfare, and wastes time and resources^5–7.

Resource-heavy Execution

In vivo studies are expensive, and group leaders must strive to reduce costs as much as possible without sacrificing research quality. This is easier said than done. Factors such as dosage, time scales, and the number of animals can all be make-or-break for experimental success and lab budgets^4,8. "Hindsight is 20/20, and while repeating experiments with adjusted protocols may improve success rates, the cost of repetition effectively doubles research expenditure.

Reproducibility Concerns

Reproducibility issues continue to rock the foundations of biomedical research, and results of in vivo work often do not translate to human trials^9–11. While some variability is beyond the researcher’s control, many factors, such as the animal’s sex, facility temperature, poor blinding, and lack of randomization, can cause reproducibility issues^12,13. When researchers overlook these factors, they risk failing to reproduce their own work or that of other laboratories, jeopardizing research success and their reputation.

Regulatory and Compliance Hurdles

Pharmaceutical companies performing in vivo experiments face several regulatory and compliance hurdles¹⁴. Research proposals must pass ethical reviews, and relying on outdated animal experimentation methods can lead reviewers to question the ethics of the experiment and the aptitude of the researcher¹⁵.

How ModernVivo Helps Pharma Group Leaders Overcome These Challenges

Modern R&D has increased pressure on group leaders, but technology is also providing solutions. ModernVivo delivers an advanced automated literature search tool to help researchers overcome the challenges of modern biomedical research and achieve faster breakthroughs.

Streamlined In Vivo Preclinical Research Design

ModernVivo offers automated literature reviews for designing in vivo experiments, significantly reducing the time needed for experimental design while conducting exhaustive searches that are virtually impossible with manual methods. Literature reviews for in vivo work can take months. When combined with lengthy experiments, projects quickly extend from a few months to an entire year, making quarterly completion unrealistic. By searching more of the available literature than manual methods, ModernVivo ensures that protocols are more scientifically rigorous and, therefore, more likely to produce meaningful and reproducible results.

Pre-Validated In Vivo Models

Piecing protocols together from scratch or inheriting decade-old protocols from previous lab members is a recipe for regulatory shortcomings and experimental failure. ModernVivo instantly gives researchers access to ready-to-use models and builds out optimal parameters such as temperature, housing, and dosage to ensure you get the most out of your work and resources. Developing in-house models takes multiple optimization rounds at both the in vitro and in vivo stages. Needless to say, this process is incredibly costly. ModernVivo eliminates unnecessary spending by identifying well-characterized models that best answer researchers' experimental questions.

Regulatory Compliance & Risk Reduction

Rigid adherence to outdated protocols can lead to violations of rapidly evolving regulations. This will mean wasted time and resources and significant reputational damage. ModernVivo helps laboratories stay ahead of regulations, ensuring compliance with Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees and other regulatory bodies by highlighting the most ethical and up-to-date in vivo methods.

Perennial Problems:

• Month-long literature searches.
• Inherently limited manual searches.
• Poor/fragmented experimental desing.
• Expensive and lengthy in-house model creation.

ModernVivo Solutions:

• Instant identification of optimal models.
• Exhaustive searches of multiple literature databases.
• Cohesive and comprehensive in vivo experimental design in a fraction of the time.
• Identifies suitable existing models instantly.

Real-World Impact: Faster, More Cost-Effective In Vivo Preclinical Success

ModernVivo has already helped top researchers gain a competitive edge in R&D. Let’s look at just two examples of successful real-world ModernVivo outcomes:

Tackling Pancreatic Cancer Complexity With Confidence

Pancreatic cancer research is plagued by complex study designs, high costs, and inefficient literature reviews that delay progress. Our client struggled to optimize their study design while maintaining competitive research timescales.

They used the ModernVivo platform to analyze over 1,200 academic papers instantly, eliminating months of manual research. By optimizing experimental parameters with ModernVivo, our client achieved a 75% reduction in development time without compromising research quality.

This approach not only accelerated their research timelines but also improved study precision, ensuring that their experimental models more accurately reflected the complexities of pancreatic cancer.

Read the full case study here.

Streamlined Study Design for Alcohol Addiction Research

An alcohol addiction research group faced the challenge of analyzing 3,500+ in vivo studies to design an effective behavioral study. Traditional literature reviews took months, delaying progress. By using ModernVivo’s AI platform, the team completed their analysis in six hours and finalized their study design in just one hour.

The platform streamlined methodology selection, enhanced study rigor, and optimized resources, allowing the team to focus on execution rather than manual literature searches and significantly accelerating addiction research.

Read the full case study here.

Why ModernVivo is the Smart Choice for Pharma R&D

Preclinical in vivo research is essential but often burdened by inefficiencies, high costs, and regulatory challenges. ModernVivo addresses these persistent issues by streamlining literature reviews, optimizing study design, and ensuring compliance with evolving regulations. By accelerating timelines and reducing unnecessary spending, researchers can focus on executing high-quality studies with confidence. Whether tackling complex diseases like pancreatic cancer or refining behavioral models for addiction research, ModernVivo empowers pharma group leaders to make informed decisions and drive breakthrough discoveries faster. Embracing innovative solutions like ModernVivo is the key to staying competitive in an increasingly demanding pharmaceutical R&D landscape.

Schedule a demo!

Ready to see how far ModernVivo can take you—and how fast? Schedule a demo to see the transformative effects of this platform today!

References

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2. Vijayan RSK, Kihlberg J, Cross JB, Poongavanam V. Enhancing preclinical drug discovery with artificial intelligence. Drug Discovery Today. 2022;27(4):967-984. doi:10.1016/j.drudis.2021.11.023

3. Chang MCJ, Grieder FB. The continued importance of animals in biomedical research. Lab Anim. 2024;53(11):295-297. doi:10.1038/s41684-024-01458-4

4. Laajala TD, Jumppanen M, Huhtaniemi R, et al. Optimized design and analysis of preclinical intervention studies in vivo. Sci Rep. 2016;6(1):30723. doi:10.1038/srep30723

5. Skibba R. Swiss survey highlights potential flaws in animal studies. Nature. Published online December 20, 2016:nature.2016.21093. doi:10.1038/nature.2016.21093

6. The 3Rs | NC3Rs. Accessed October 21, 2024. https://nc3rs.org.uk/who-we-are/3rs

7. Check Hayden E. Misleading mouse studies waste medical resources. Nature. Published online March 26, 2014:nature.2014.14938. doi:10.1038/nature.2014.14938

8. Sewell F, Corvaro M, Andrus A, et al. Recommendations on dose level selection for repeat dose toxicity studies. Arch Toxicol. 2022;96(7):1921-1934. doi:10.1007/s00204-022-03293-3

9. Cobey KD, Ebrahimzadeh S, Page MJ, et al. Biomedical researchers’ perspectives on the reproducibility of research. PLoS Biol. 2024;22(11):e3002870. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3002870

10. Gannot G, Cutting M, Fischer D, Hsu L. Reproducibility and transparency in biomedical sciences. Oral Diseases. 2017;23(7):813-816. doi:10.1111/odi.12588

11. Mak IW, Evaniew N, Ghert M. Lost in translation: animal models and clinical trials in cancer treatment. Am J Transl Res. 2014;6(2):114-118.

12. Von Kortzfleisch VT, Karp NA, Palme R, Kaiser S, Sachser N, Richter SH. Improving reproducibility in animal research by splitting the study population into several ‘mini-experiments.’ Sci Rep. 2020;10(1):16579. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-73503-4

13. Mogil JS. Laboratory environmental factors and pain behavior: the relevance of unknown unknowns to reproducibility and translation. Lab Anim. 2017;46(4):136-141. doi:10.1038/laban.1223

14. Alharbi FN, Almasad MN. Regulatory challenges in pharmaceuticals: Navigating global compliance and approval. Int J of Health Sci. 2020;4(S1):34-46. doi:10.53730/ijhs.v4nS1.15020

15. Animal Welfare Act | National Agricultural Library. Accessed February 7, 2025. https://www.nal.usda.gov/animal-health-and-welfare/animal-welfare-act

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^{AI Disclosure: Some of this content was generated with assistance from AI tools for copywriting.}

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