In his book Model Systems in Biology: History, Philosophy, and Practical Concerns, Georg Striedter analyzes why and how researchers in biomedical science, a translational domain distinct from the knowledge-focused academic discipline(s) of biology, have come to adopt various animal species and in vitro cellular systems to serve as model systems in understanding and developing treatments for human diseases.
Given the size and profile of the biopharmaceutical sector, we might assume that biomedical science is very successful. As a high-tech industry, it has been compared to the semiconductor industry, the exponential progress of which is underpinned by Moore’s law (the number of transistors per unit area has roughly doubled every 2 years since the 1970s). The stark reality is that (as a crude measure) the number of drugs licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration per (adjusted) billion U.S. dollars of research investment has roughly halved every 5 years...