By conducting their experiments at US chimpanzee centres, foreign scientists have been circumventing their own nations' bans on chimpanzee research since 2005 (Nature 482, 132; 2012). It is important to point out that those scientists are almost all employed by foreign-based drug companies — as reported by a US National Institutes of Health representative at the Institute of Medicine (IOM) public hearing in May 2011.

The US Food and Drug Administration's Office of New Drugs reported to the IOM committee in June 2011 that chimps are never required for preclinical drug testing in the United States, and that the agency discourages the use of chimps for this purpose. The IOM's report Chimpanzees in Biomedical and Behavioral Research, released in December 2011, also concludes that chimps are unnecessary for preclinical drug testing.

The use of chimps for preclinical drug trials in US centres by foreign drug companies is therefore contrary to US practice and should be banned.