Pfizer has acknowledged that 'none of the compounds tested by Pfizer since 1989 using the forced swim test are currently approved to treat human depression, which means that the test did not lead to marketing these compounds as new medications.
Animal models of human disease have extremely mixed results, and all
too often they do not work well and accomplish their goals of
helping humans.1
One such procedure, the forced swim test, is a prime example of an
experimental procedure that has all sorts of problems. I'm pleased
researcher Stephen Farghali of Black Hills State University could
answer a few questions about why it doesn't help us learn more about
human depression.
Marc Bekoff: Can you tell readers why, after 45 years of the forced
swim test, one of the most prevalent animal experiments fails to
measure up?
Stephen Farghali: Imagine you want to know whether a substance, say
zinc, alleviates depression. How should you scientifically test
this? One good option would be to give zinc supplements to human
participants for a length of time while assessing their depression.1
Another would be to grab a lab mouse by the back of the neck and
inject either zinc or a placebo down the esophagus. Then drop the
mouse into a beaker of tap water and set a timer, watching as the
mouse struggles to escape. Eventually, they give up. Instead of
trying to escape, the mouse resorts to floating. If mice who get
zinc struggle longer than those who don’t, a leap of faith is made
to conclude that zinc might alleviate human depression.
The latter option is called the forced swim test, and it’s one of
the most common animal experiments researchers use to study a
substance for antidepressant properties. It rests on interpreting
that floating behavior as “despair." A mouse who's given up trying
to escape, the thinking goes, is analogous to a person suffering
from depression. But this interpretation has been heavily criticized
in the decades since it was originally published in 1977.
....
Please read the ENTIRE INTERVIEW HERE.
From PETA.org: