Fda Approves Cancer Treatment For Dogs

[MilliesMom]

From Delaware Online:

 

WASHINGTON – The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first drug made specifically to treat cancer in dogs.

 

Until now, all cancer drugs used in veterinary medicine were developed for use in humans and weren't specifically approved for animals. Federal law allows vets to administer cancer medicines and other human treatments under controlled circumstances.

 

The new drug, Palladia, manufactured by Pfizer Animal Health Inc., has been approved to treat a type of cancer that accounts for about one in five cases of canine skin tumors.

 

Canine cutaneous mast cell tumors - the cancer in question - can appear small and insignificant when dogs have them, but while some are easily removed, others can lead to life-threatening disease, according to the FDA.

 

"This cancer drug approval for dogs is an important step forward for veterinary medicine," Bernadette Dunham, director of FDA's center for veterinary medicine, said in a statement Wednesday.

 

"Prior to this approval, veterinarians had to rely on human oncology drugs, without knowledge of how safe or effective they would be for dogs," Dunham said. "Today's approval offers dog owners, in consultation with their veterinarian, an option for treatment of their dog's cancer."

 

Palladia is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that works by killing tumor cells and cutting off blood supply to the tumor. Common side effects include diarrhea, decrease or loss of appetite, lameness, weight loss and blood in the stool.

 

 

[ahicks51]

So it's in the same class of drugs as Gleevec.

 

That bodes well.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

The Chicago Trib just ran a similar article. Now we just need some specifically targeting the osteo that is such a killer around here.

[ahicks51]

The Chicago Trib just ran a similar article. Now we just need some specifically targeting the osteo that is such a killer around here.

 

Well, you know, marketing a tyrosine kinase inhibitor for management of cancer in the dog has to start somewhere; may as well be something like skin cancer- although I'm sure they have their reasons.

 

Now- if you Google up "Gleevec" and "osteosarcoma," or "tyrosine kinase" and osteo, you'll notice this aspect of management has not eluded cancer researchers, either. Of course, with ~300 cases a year in America, this isn't a HUGE pressing concern with human medicine. But- I can smell an off-label use, and I'm sure Dr. Cuoto has thought of this already himself.

 

In short, a combined management scheme is probably on the horizon. Unfortunately, I'm going to guess that approval for this particular drug cost a bucketload, and given that such a drug may require long-term use, the manufacturers are going to milk that patent for all it's worth, which will mean 10+ years before it's off-patent.

 

Also note that a cursory literature search shows there's excitement about its use in mast cell tumors.