Hi All,
About 6 months ago I posted a question about my baby, Shadow, having bloody stool. It turned out that she had colon cancer (adenocarcinoma). We had that tumor removed. It was a difficult surgery and recovery for her, but she is a brave little trooper. A week ago, we were given the devastating news that her cancer had metastasized. She then developed ascites, which I know is a really bad sign. We had that drained yesterday, but thankfully it was not a perforated bowel.
On Tuesday, I researched and found a study that is going on at the Cleveland Clinic for dogs that cures their cancer/deceases their tumors. This is the link to the article:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0323143856.htm
My background is in microbiology and Immunology so I know a bit of molecular biology. I am confident that this new innovative new treatment will help treat several types of cancers in cats, dogs and humans alike when it is approved by the FDA, but such approvals take years -- even with an FDA fast track. This particular drug hasn't quite started the FDA process yet, but has already been contracted to the cleveland clinic for study. Therefore, the FDA is still regulating it. Given this, my vet and I have not been able to enroll Shadow in the study, since they are not open to cats at the moment.
We are in touch with the head researcher (Dr. Bauer -- who by the way is a really really nice guy), and he plans on starting the work on cats, but it will probably take a year before that happens, and unfortunately I don't think that Shadow has that kind of time. Because of the FDA regulation, Dr. Bauer cannot help us or any one else who has asked him, and is very frustrated by this.
To help him and other future patients out, I plan on lobbying to allow researchers to treat cats and dogs with medications that are not yet FDA approved so long as they have veterinarian or oncologist support. I know the reason FDA prevents such is because they are concerned about food animals such as cows and chickens getting such treatments, and that in turn affecting humans. I don't think many people would consider cats and dogs as food, so I think that outdated rule needs to be modified. There are so few drugs out there for cats and dogs that when something so promising is available, we should be allowed to get it for our furry friends.
I know that this will take a long time, and won't help Shadow, but it may help someone in the future, and for us, that could be her legacy.
I'm not sure how to get started in changing this rule -- I'll have to research that (I presume I have to have a long talk with our local representative), but any comments/suggestions would be welcome.
Thanks in advance!
About 6 months ago I posted a question about my baby, Shadow, having bloody stool. It turned out that she had colon cancer (adenocarcinoma). We had that tumor removed. It was a difficult surgery and recovery for her, but she is a brave little trooper. A week ago, we were given the devastating news that her cancer had metastasized. She then developed ascites, which I know is a really bad sign. We had that drained yesterday, but thankfully it was not a perforated bowel.
On Tuesday, I researched and found a study that is going on at the Cleveland Clinic for dogs that cures their cancer/deceases their tumors. This is the link to the article:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0323143856.htm
My background is in microbiology and Immunology so I know a bit of molecular biology. I am confident that this new innovative new treatment will help treat several types of cancers in cats, dogs and humans alike when it is approved by the FDA, but such approvals take years -- even with an FDA fast track. This particular drug hasn't quite started the FDA process yet, but has already been contracted to the cleveland clinic for study. Therefore, the FDA is still regulating it. Given this, my vet and I have not been able to enroll Shadow in the study, since they are not open to cats at the moment.
We are in touch with the head researcher (Dr. Bauer -- who by the way is a really really nice guy), and he plans on starting the work on cats, but it will probably take a year before that happens, and unfortunately I don't think that Shadow has that kind of time. Because of the FDA regulation, Dr. Bauer cannot help us or any one else who has asked him, and is very frustrated by this.
To help him and other future patients out, I plan on lobbying to allow researchers to treat cats and dogs with medications that are not yet FDA approved so long as they have veterinarian or oncologist support. I know the reason FDA prevents such is because they are concerned about food animals such as cows and chickens getting such treatments, and that in turn affecting humans. I don't think many people would consider cats and dogs as food, so I think that outdated rule needs to be modified. There are so few drugs out there for cats and dogs that when something so promising is available, we should be allowed to get it for our furry friends.
I know that this will take a long time, and won't help Shadow, but it may help someone in the future, and for us, that could be her legacy.
I'm not sure how to get started in changing this rule -- I'll have to research that (I presume I have to have a long talk with our local representative), but any comments/suggestions would be welcome.
Thanks in advance!