First Drug to Treat Cancer in Dogs Approved by the FDA – Is this Where the Profits Could Be?

Good news for the dogs we love, but on the other side of the coin, where is the money in healthcare? Is it all going to the dogs? I have a dog and love him very much, but a short while back I wrote about the incentives we have in place, humans versus pets.

X PRIZE Foundation for HealthCare – Is the Incentive High Enough

This one even ran on Fox News. Below is a 75 million dollar prize offered by an orthopedic surgeon, who is now retired with some luck with his case against Medtronic violating some of his patents.

$75 Million Prize for a way to sterilize pets – a one-time non-surgical means to sterilize male and female cats and dogs

What do you think, 10 million for humans, 75 million for the dogs and cats? Is there more incentives and money for our pets than what is left for us? I have taken my dogs in the past to a clinic here in Orange County who have specialists, oncologists, orthopedic surgeons, etc. for dogs and cats and they are wonderful, but it is a cash business too. BD

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced the approval of Palladia (toceranib phosphate), the first drug developed specifically for the treatment of cancer in dogs.

Palladia is approved to treat canine cutaneous (skin-based) mast cell tumors, a type of cancer responsible for about 1 out of 5 cases of canine skin tumors. The drug is approved to treat the tumors with or without regional lymph node involvement.

All cancer drugs now used in veterinary medicine originally were developed for use in humans and are not approved for use in animals. Cancer treatments used in animals are used in an “extra-label” manner as allowed by the Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act of 1994.

"This cancer drug approval for dogs is an important step forward for veterinary medicine," said Bernadette Dunham, D.V.M., Ph.D., director of FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine. "Prior to this approval, veterinarians had to rely on human oncology drugs, without knowledge of how safe or effective they would be for dogs. Today's approval offers dog owners, in consultation with their veterinarian, an option for treatment of their dog's cancer."

FDA: First Drug to Treat Cancer in Dogs Approved