Cutting costs: repeated use of a single chimpanzee

Currently, chimpanzees for use in biomedical research are housed in large numbers at a few facilities in the United States. Almost half of the estimated 1,200 chimpanzees for research are at two facilities (360 at New Iberia Research Center; 245 at Alamogordo Primate Facility).

In 1997, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a report that concluded: “If the chimpanzee is to remain a viable animal model for research, mechanisms for increasing the cost effectiveness of chimpanzee breeding, maintenance, and research must be developed.” (1) NIH established the Chimpanzee Management Program (referred to as ChiMP) to address the “optimization of the research use of chimpanzees.” (2)

A “surplus” supply

In the late 1990s, the U.S. government found itself with a “surplus” of chimpanzees – that is, with more chimpanzees than research had a “need” for – the result of an aggressive breeding program initiated in the 1980s when the scientific community believed chimpanzees would be crucial to HIV/AIDS research. When it turned out that they were not, the laboratories were left with an excess of chimpanzees who were expensive to maintain if not being used in active research protocols with accompanying funding.

In 1997, the cost of maintaining a chimpanzee in a lab setting was approximated at $20 per day. (3) Tabulated over an estimated 45 to 55 year life-span for a chimpanzee in captivity that cost becomes an estimated $330,000-$400,000 for one chimpanzee. NIH’s solution to the high cost of housing and caring for chimpanzees is to promote centralization and repeated use of individuals. “Such large figures,” according to NIH, “argue for careful population management and multiple use whenever possible.” (4)

An expensive proposition

Almost a decade later, costs have escalated considerably. As an example, according to one recent NIH grant that uses chimpanzees at New Iberia Research Center, the cost is given as $28 per day per chimpanzee. (5) (In contrast, the same grant lists the cost for squirrel monkeys as $3.25 per day). This grant also noted an additional expense of $30,000 per year per chimpanzee. (6) (The reasons for this additional money are unclear).

In addition to cost efficiency, NIH’s solution of aggregating chimpanzees at fewer facilities allows for centralized distribution of their blood cells, serum, antibodies, tissue and other biological specimens (often requiring a knockdown to obtain) to a range of labs that might otherwise not be able to afford to maintain chimpanzees. “When appropriate,” fees are charged for the use of chimpanzees.

Repeated use of chimpanzees for various experiments is not new – many individuals now in sanctuary have long histories of enduring hundreds of procedures. However, this new NIH-backed effort to maximize the use of each and every chimpanzee pushes what an individual must endure to new extremes.

At a 2001 meeting of the ChiMP Working Group, one NIH researcher noted that:

There is a high degree of cooperation among various NIAID [NIH], FDA and CDC researchers in an effort to make the best possible use of every chimpanzee that is strategically used in a series of sequential experiments with a variety of viruses. (7)

A research project at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, described below, illustrates the organized efforts by NIH to maintain centralized populations and to promote use by multiple researchers. Note that M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is one of the six major facilities for chimpanzees, housing 141 as of 2004.

The CRISP abstract for this protocol states the aim of this grant as:

… satisfying the proposed need for a stable long-term national resource of chimpanzees for biomedical research. This application will dedicate 186 of the most demographically balanced, physically and behaviorally healthy chimpanzees in the country to the management of an internationally recognized research institution. This dedicated colony will serve as a Core resource to support peer-reviewed investigations requiring the chimpanzee model. [emphasis added] When appropriate, the investigators will be charged for using these chimpanzees. In addition to having biohazard and conventional holding facilities for all age chimpanzees, the DVSB [Department of Veterinary Sciences in Bastrop] can provide an array of molecular, viral, immunological, anatomical and clinical pathology research services. Increasing investigator awareness of the availability of chimpanzees, appropriate investigative housing and sophisticated research support capabilities of DVSB should enhance the prudent investigative use of the chimpanzee.

As noted in this abstract, researchers may be charged a fee for using the chimpanzees – an attractive financial incentive for “leasing” them. The Report from the May 18, 2005 meeting of the ChiMP Working Group notes that:

Although variable among sites, income at [chimpanzee] research facilities derives from … short-term use fees associated with acute research studies that are funded, for example, by pharmaceutical companies, the substantial use fee required when members of a colony are selected for studies using potentially chronic viruses, and the use fees for safety and efficacy studies of drugs and biologics. (8)

With such policies in place, many chimpanzees face a lifetime of “repeated use.” Since it is not unusual for captive chimpanzees to live an average of 45 to 55 years, this policy could mean decades of multiple experiments, knockdowns, frequent anesthesia, and other procedures. The emphasis to centralize and “recycle” chimpanzees into multiple research protocols adds to the potential misery and suffering these sensitive and cognizant individuals will endure.

Sources

(1) National Resource Council, Institute for Laboratory Animal Research, “Chimpanzees in Research: strategies for their ethical care, management, and use.” Chapter 4, National Academy Press. 1997

(2) ChiMP Working Group, Minutes from meeting on May 17, 1998, obtained by Project R&R through FOIA on April 28, 2004.

(3) National Resource Council, Institute for Laboratory Animal Research, “Chimpanzees in Research: strategies for their ethical care, management, and use.” Chapter 4, National Academy Press. 1997

(4) Ibid.

(5) NIH Grant 5R01NS042890-03, received by Project R&R from NIH via FOIA, April 2005. “Identifying a viral cause of Multiple Sclerosis,” Northwestern University/Evanston Northwest Healthcare, IL. June 1, 2002 - May 31, 2007

(6) Ibid.

(7) ChiMP Working Group, Minutes from meeting on May 16, 2001, obtained by Project R&R through FOIA on April 28, 2004.

(8) NIH National Center for Research Resources, Report of the Chimpanzee Management Plan Working Group to the National Advisory Research Resources Council; web retrieved at http://www.ncrr.nih.gov/compmed/ChimP05-18-2005.asp

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