Modern biomedical research: an internally self-consistent universe with little contact with medical reality?

Congruence between in vitro and animal models of disease and the corresponding human condition is a fundamental assumption of much biomedical research, but it is one that is rarely critically assessed. In the absence of such critical assessment, the assumption of congruence may be invalid for most models. Much more open discussion of this issue is required if biomedical research is to be clinically productive.