Release & Restitution for Chimpanzees in U.S. Laboratories » Southwest National Primate Research Center

Southwest National Primate Research Center

Who’s There?
Who are the chimpanzees at this facility?

Annual Inspection Reports

Project R&R requested inspection reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for 2008 on January 9, 2009. Our current reports are from 2003 to 2007.

An inspection report from April 3, 2007 revealed multiple USDA citations against Southwest for AWA violations. The violations included a necropsy (animal autopsy) performed on a male baboon who was still alive. The USDA veterinarian that conducted the inspection stated, “Euthanasia means the humane destruction of an animal accomplished by a method that produces rapid unconsciousness and subsequent death without evidence of pain or distress…euthanasia of one baboon was not accomplished as described above…it was not dead prior to the start of the necropsy procedure.”

Official complaints were filed against SNPRC with the USDA and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). (http://www.all-creatures.org/saen/press-20080208.html)

San Antonio, Texas (affiliated with Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research)

Approximate Number of Chimpanzees: 166

Private facility that receives federal funding for chimpanzee research; part of the National Primate Research Center system

History & Profile

The Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR) is host to the Southwest National Primate Research Center (SNPRC), part of the federal government’s National Primate Research Center system. “The SNPRC is divided into five types of components: Administrative, Training and Outreach, Primate Colonies, Resource, and Resource-related Research components. These components are organized within three groups: Comparative Medicine, Virology and Immunology, and Genetics Group.” (1) SFBR administers the center on its “332-acre campus on the northwest side of San Antonio,” located near the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. (2)

In addition to chimpanzees, SNPRC is “home to the world’s largest baboon population,” (presently about 3,000 out of a total of more than 2400 primates), two populations of rhesus macaques, a population of common marmosets and tamarins, as well as smaller numbers of other species of primates, including cynomolgus macaques, spider monkeys, vervet monkeys and pigtailed macaques. (3)

According to SFBR’s website, “Most chimpanzees live in enclosures with an indoor heated area, and an outdoor area with climbing structures. Some also have regular access to a large, grass-covered playground.” (4)

Chimpanzee Use

SNPRC has used chimpanzees extensively for research involving infectious diseases, and for development of vaccines for hepatitis A, B and C (5) Despite the fact that chimpanzees have shown a distinctly different response to HIV and fail to contract AIDS, SNPRC still uses chimpanzees in ongoing AIDS vaccine studies and in testing DNA vaccines. Krishna Murthy, a veterinarian and scientist at SFBR, receives NIH funds for HIV research involving the testing of potential vaccines in chimpanzees. (6) A San Antonio news article reported that Murthy was to test a vaccine for AIDS in baboons and chimpanzees “in collaboration with United Biomedical Inc. of New York and the California Department of Health Services.” (7) (Read about the failures of HIV research on chimpanzees.)

Research Profile *

SNPRC’s research emphasis is on nonhuman primate models of human diseases, including “including common chronic diseases and infectious diseases and the effects that genetics and the environment have on physiological processes and disease susceptibility.” (8) The Virology and Immunology Department focuses on, “AIDS; hepatitis B, C, and E; herpes B and other herpesviruses; Chagas disease; emerging viral diseases; fundamental research and vaccine; and drug testing.” (9) This research uses nonhuman primates as “models for human infectious disease, as well as for the evaluation of therapeutic drugs and vaccines against viral agents.” (10)

One of SFBR’s longest running departments, Organic Chemistry, is “being spun off as a private, for-profit business enterprise based on the massive body of work the department has accumulated in female reproductive and related health issues.” The new company, Evestra, will serve as a means of “commercializing a pipeline of products in fertility control, hormone replacement therapy, and oncology.” In addition, “Evestra will generate revenue from the synthesis of steroids for the National Institutes of Health pursuant to a contract SFBR has had for over 30 years, which is being transferred to Evestra.” (11)

SFBR also has “the nation’s only privately owned biosafety level four (BSL-4) maximum containment laboratory. This facility – which has proven especially beneficial in support of the nation’s biodefense efforts – allows Foundation scientists to safely study lethal pathogens for which there currently is no known treatment or cure.” (12)

Principal Research Programs: (13)

Genetics
Infectious Diseases (HIV, hepatitis, herpes B, SIV)
Neonatal diseases
Physiology
Pathobiology
Behavior

* These research programs may involve primates other than chimpanzees.

Financials

SNPRC, like the other labs profiled, receives funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). For grant 5P51RR013986-10, “Southwest National Primate Research Center,” the center received over $6 million in 2008. Since 1999, SNPRC has received almost $52 million for this grant alone. (14)

For SFBR, “In addition to the competitive grants and contracts that fund SFBR’s research, a significant portion of its nearly $55 million annual budget is met through the financial contributions of foundations, corporations and individuals.” (15)

Address

John L. VandeBerg, PhD, Director
Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research
P.O. Box 760549
San Antonio, TX 78245-0549
URL: Southwest National Primate Research Center (SNPRC)