Canine Cancer

There are good bloggers, and not-so-good bloggers out there. The good ones have time to write regularly. Even if they don?t blog daily, they manage to keep a steady 2-or-3-times-a-week schedule. Moi? I regretfully count myself among the not-so-good ones. I guarantee you that I am not at a loss for topics.  Not in the least! What I am at a huge loss for is time. And, so, I apologize. I do have good intentions ? honest, I do! Good intentions just don?t always add up to steady blogs.

One topic that I have been wanting to chat about is one that is always on my mind:  cancer. Mine, not so much; cancer in dogs, very much. I cannot seem to escape news of friends? or acquaintances? dogs either having cancer or having lost their battle with it. While there continue to be tremendous scientific breakthroughs in the study of cancer in humans, cancer in dogs trails far behind; or, perhaps, not so far at all.  A good friend of mine sent me an encouraging article that brings hope. I?d like to share it with you. Read on?

WASHINGTON, June 3, 2009 (AFP) - The US Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday it has approved the first drug developed to treat cancer in dogs. The drug, which is sold under the brand name Palladia, is approved to treat canine skin-based mast cell tumors, which can be a very serious form of cancer in dogs.  The approval of Palladia marked "an important step forward for veterinary medicine," said Bernadette Dunham, director of the FDA for Veterinary Medicine.  Up until now, cancer drugs used in veterinary medicine were developed for use in humans and not approved for use in animals. "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.  Palladia, which is manufactured by Pfizer Animal Health Inc., works by killing tumor cells and by cutting off the blood supply to the tumor.  In a clinical trial, Palladia showed a statistically significant difference in tumor shrinkage when compared with a placebo.

May the breakthroughs continue, and may the survival rate of canine cancer patients rise as has the survival rate of women with breast cancer...

 

Comments

I lost a dog to cancer about 5 years ago and this subject is very important to me. There should be more attention paid to this issue as more dogs are dying everyday. It is good to see a company like Pfizer developing something to treat dog's tumors! Thanks for posting this!