Animal Welfare and Research Ethics Statement

1. AAALAC International accreditation

Our animal care and use program is accredited by AAALAC International, and we have passed successive reviews in 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2025.

AAALAC accreditation is a voluntary peer-review programme. It signifies that our animal care and use meets international standards, including the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, and it requires periodic reassessment to maintain.

2. Ethical review

As required under Taiwan's Animal Protection Act, we maintain an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) whose members include veterinarians, animal research professionals, and an external representative with no conflicting interest.

Every animal study must be submitted as a written protocol and approved before work begins. The committee reviews scientific necessity, animal numbers, control of pain and distress, anaesthesia, and humane endpoints, and studies remain subject to monitoring while in progress.

3. The 3Rs

The 3Rs are applied from the study design stage onwards:

• Replacement: we assess whether in vitro work, computational modelling, or existing data could answer the question instead, and prefer those routes where scientifically valid.
• Reduction: animal numbers are planned using appropriate statistical methods to the minimum necessary, and we encourage data sharing and reuse so that studies are not needlessly repeated.
• Refinement: anaesthesia and pain management, surgical and husbandry technique, environmental enrichment, and handling are continually improved to minimise pain and distress.

4. Veterinary care and husbandry

• Veterinarians experienced in laboratory animal medicine oversee health monitoring, anaesthesia planning, post-operative care, and pain management, with authority to intervene at any time.
• Animal housing is environmentally controlled for temperature, humidity, and ventilation, and provides space, social housing, and enrichment appropriate to swine behaviour.
• Feed and water quality are checked routinely, with established health monitoring and disease prevention procedures.
• Staff undergo regular training in animal care, technical procedures, and biosafety.

5. Regulatory compliance

• Taiwan's Animal Protection Act and its subordinate regulations.
• Ministry of Agriculture requirements on the constitution and operation of institutional animal care and use committees, and on the reporting and inspection of scientific animal use.
• Where contract research supports a regulatory submission, studies follow the standards required by the relevant authority, with quality and audit terms agreed in the contract.

6. Content warning on research imagery

Our services pages include surgical, necropsy, and histopathology images. These are necessary to demonstrate our research capability but some readers may find them distressing, so those pages carry a content warning and an acknowledgement step.

Your acknowledgement is stored only in your own browser (localStorage) and is never transmitted to us. See our Privacy Policy for detail.

7. Comments and concerns

If you have any concern or suggestion regarding our animal care or research ethics, please write to service@pigmodel.asia. We will handle it under our internal procedures and, where appropriate, refer it to the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.