Urge Eli Lilly’s Board of Directors to Ban the Near-Drowning Test

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PETA has provided Eli Lilly with scientific documentation on the worthlessness and cruelty of the forced swim test, in which mice, rats, or other small animals are dropped into containers of water and must swim frantically in order to keep from drowning, supposedly to test the effectiveness of antidepressant medications. Even the company’s bestseller, Prozac, hasn’t yielded consistent results in it.

But Eli Lilly doesn’t want to let it go, even though its competitors—including Johnson & Johnson, Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline, AbbVie Inc., Roche, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk A/S, Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer, Amgen, and Bristol Myers Squibb—already have.

Perhaps the reason Eli Lily won’t ban the forced swim test is rooted in its long history of animal use—despite the fact that 95% of new drugs that test safe and effective in animals fail in humans. Eli Lilly has experimented on thousands of animals, including hundreds of dogs and monkeys, in various controversial tests for years, according to federal reports. Company executives have even resorted to lying:

If the CEO can’t manage to tell the truth, Eli Lilly’s board of directors needs to know.

Please send polite e-mails to the two board members below, urging them to order a ban on the cruel forced swim test:

Jackson P. Tai
[email protected]
Former Vice Chair and CEO
DBS Group Holdings Ltd and DBS Bank Ltd

Dr. Katherine Baicker, Ph.D.
[email protected]
Dean and Professor
Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago

Gabrielle Sulzberger
[email protected]
Chair, Global ESG Advisory
Teneo

Then, use the form below to make a similar request of the other board members.

Note: Putting your subject line and letter into your own words will help draw attention to your e-mail.

View Message +

Professor of Medicine

William G.

Kaelin Jr., M.D.

Harvard Medical School

Chair and CEO

Juan R.

Luciano

Archer Daniels Midland Company

Executive Vice President

Marschall S.

Runge, M.D., Ph.D.

University of Michigan

Message to {contact_data~firstName} {contact_data~lastName}:

I was disappointed to learn that your company has not banned the notorious forced swim test. Eli Lilly is an outlier. Your competitors, including Johnson & Johnson, Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline, AbbVie Inc., Roche, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk A/S, Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer, Amgen, and Bristol Myers Squibb, have all banned it. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration doesn’t require it.

But Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks wants to keep his options open—even though dropping animals into an inescapable cylinder of water and forcing them to swim to keep from drowning is a long-debunked test. It yields wildly inconsistent results for antidepressants, including Prozac. Your company’s use of the test hasn’t helped Eli Lilly put any antidepressant medications on the market.

As one of Eli Lilly’s directors, you have significant influence over the company’s policies. Please use your authority to advocate for a ban on the forced swim test.

Sincerely,
{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}
{user_data~EMail Address}

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