The FDA halted agency experiments studying the effects of nicotine in squirrel monkeys after a primatologist raised concerns over the ethics of the study, according to The Washington Post.
The FDA will send a team of primate experts to the FDA's National Center for Toxicological Research in Arkansas, where the research is taking place, to evaluate the safety of the monkeys. In addition, a FDA team consisting of senior officials and primate veterinarians will assess the "science and integrity" of the research process to determine if the study should be terminated, according to the report.
The experiment involved training squirrel monkeys to press a lever to receive nicotine to examine behavioral and biological effects of the drug. Since the study began in 2014, four monkeys have died. It is unclear if the deaths were related to nicotine.
The FDA halted the research after primatologist Jane Goodall, PhD, recently raised concerns over the study. She called the research "cruel and unnecessary" and "shameful" in a letter to Dr. Gottlieb.
The FDA is also considering establishing a "function that would provide for even greater oversight of the care of animals in the agency's possession," an FDA spokesperson told the Washington Post.