Historical control databases are established by many companies (i) enabling contextualization of results from single studies against previous studies performed under similar conditions, (ii) to properly design studies and/or (iii) to come up with quality control instruments. Although the use of historical control data in supporting inferences varies across different assays; one major opportunity is the derivation of so-called Virtual Control Groups (VCGs) for replacement of animals in the control groups and thus enabling a 3R strategy for future animal testing approaches.
