{"id":4713,"date":"2025-07-01T14:23:28","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T12:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.molport.com\/?p=4713"},"modified":"2025-09-02T08:27:54","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T06:27:54","slug":"molport-chronicles-from-alchemy-to-pharma-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.molport.com\/news\/molport-chronicles-from-alchemy-to-pharma-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Molport Chronicles- from Alchemy to Pharma No. 3"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">Toxicology and Preclinical Testing (Animal Models)<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Today, I would like to share with you the story of another individual who made a remarkable contribution to the history of drug development. The person who laid the basis for modern preclinical animal model tox evaluations was <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Johann_Jakob_Wepfer\">Johann Wepfer<\/a> (1620\u20131695).\u00a0 A Swiss Pioneer of Toxicology and Preclinical Testing (Animal Models).<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Long before modern drug development, Wepfer made groundbreaking strides in toxicological analysis. He is best known for his meticulous studies of <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/cicutaeaquaticae00wepf\">Cicuta<\/a> (water hemlock), one of Europe\u2019s deadliest plants, and for using animal models to infer toxicity in humans, thereby laying the foundation for modern preclinical testing.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Wepfer also contributed to early brain vascular studies and was one of the first to warn against the use of arsenic and mercury in medicine, a bold and visionary stance at the time.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Although the use of animals in research dates back to ancient Greek medicine, it was in the 17th century, with Wepfer among the leading figures, that animal models gained scientific legitimacy, helping to shift medicine from tradition to evidence-based experimentation.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">His legacy continues: animal models remain vital for evaluating safety and efficacy before human trials.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-4714\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.molport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Alchemy-to-Pharma-21-may-1-1024x1024.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"770\" height=\"770\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.molport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Alchemy-to-Pharma-21-may-1-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/blog.molport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Alchemy-to-Pharma-21-may-1-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.molport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Alchemy-to-Pharma-21-may-1-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/blog.molport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Alchemy-to-Pharma-21-may-1-370x370.png 370w, https:\/\/blog.molport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Alchemy-to-Pharma-21-may-1.png 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Toxicology and Preclinical Testing (Animal Models) Today, I would like to share with you the story of another individual who made a remarkable contribution to the history of drug development. The person who laid the basis for modern preclinical animal model tox evaluations was Johann Wepfer (1620\u20131695).\u00a0 A Swiss Pioneer of Toxicology and Preclinical Testing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":4715,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[156,158,157],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.molport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4713"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.molport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.molport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.molport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.molport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4713"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.molport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4731,"href":"https:\/\/blog.molport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4713\/revisions\/4731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.molport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.molport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.molport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.molport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}