Our policy for animal welfare

Management guidelines

KAC is committed to make contributions to the advancement of sciences and the promotion of human welfare.Experimental animals are indispensable for the development of new medicines. On the other hand, it is strictly required to follow the principles of 3Rs “Pursuit of alternative test methods (Replacement), reduction of the number of animals to be used(Reduction), and improvement of painful methods (Refinement)” for studies using experimental animals. We ruled “Guidance for Experimental Animals” in 2001 and established the Animal Care and Use Committee. Furthermore, this Guidance was revised to “Inner rules of Experiments on Animals” in 2011. We are always conducting the animal experiments in accordance with the appropriate study protocol based on the principle of 3Rs. Thus, we are working on the improvement of animal welfare led by the Animal Care and Use Committee.

Regulations related to animal welfare

We are conducting the animal experiments in compliance with the regulations related to animal welfare as follows:

1. “Law for Animal Welfare and Management (October 1, 1973. Law No. 105. Partial revision, June 1, 2006. Final revision, May 30, 2014. Law No. 46)”
2. “Standard for breeding and storage of experimental animals, and for reduction of pain (April 28, 2006. Environmental Ministerial Notification No. 88. Revision, 2013 Environmental Ministerial Notification No. 84)”
3. “Basic Guidance for Animal Experiments at Facilities under the jurisdiction of the MHLW (MHLW Notification. June 1, 2006. Subnotification No. 0601005. Partial revision. 一February 20, 2015. Subnotification No. 0220. Part 1)”
4. “Basic Guidance to comprehensively promote measures for Animal Welfare and Management (2006 the Ministry of Environment Notification No. 140, Final revision. 2013 the Ministry of Environment Notification No. 80)”
5. “Guidance for Welfare of Experimental Animals (Japanese Society for Laboratory Animal Resources)”
6. Guidelines for Proper Conduct of Animal Experiments (Science Council of Japan, June 1, 2006)
7. Standards Relating to the Methods of Destruction of Animals (Prime Minister’s Office Notification No. 40, July 4, 1995. Revised December 1, 2000. Ministry of the Environment Notification No. 59, revised November 12, 2007; Ministry of the Environment Notification No. 105)

Internal rules related to animal experiments

In order to comply with the above regulations, we have established the following internal rules for animal experiments.

1. Kac Co., Ltd. Animal Experiment Regulations (effective from February 28, 2011)
2. Kac Co., Ltd. Biological Science Center Animal Experiment Approval Regulations (effective from February 28, 2011)
3. Kac Co., Ltd. Biological Science Center Animal Experiment Committee Rules (effective from February 28, 2011)

Review of animal experiments by self-assessment

The Animal care and use Committee reviews the validity and rationale of animal experiment plans submitted to it. In addition, the Self-inspection Committee conducts an internal audit once a year of animal experiments being conducted and the systems for their management. The Committee provides feedback to the Animal care and use Committee on how well records of the experimental procedure are being kept, as well as points of improvement, such as facility maintenance plans.

Education/training related to animal welfare

Animal experiment staff and animal breeding staff in charge of contract studies receive in-house training about animal welfare by experts of experimental staff and members of animal care and use committee. Additionally, the Animal Memorial Services is annually held with our feelings of gratitude to all experimental animals.

Staff in charge of contract duties related to breeding and management of experimental animals receive their education about animal welfare through in-house seminars by technical instructors of experimental animals certified by the Japanese Society for Laboratory Animal Resources.

Qualifications for handling experimental animals

In order to improve animal welfare awareness and techniques of experimental staff and animal husbandry staff, we encourage our staff to acquire the qualifications of technical instructor and the first or second grade technician of experimental animals authorized by the Japanese Society for Laboratory Animal Resources.

Third-party certification of our facility

Our efforts in the field of animal experiments (as described above) were evaluated by the Japan Health Sciences Foundation and certified as conforming to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare Basic Guidelines in December 2020.