Cancer Drug for Dogs Approved Too Bad We Need Them

While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announces new drugs fairly
regularly, rarely do these approvals have a direct impact on companion
animals. But at the beginning of June, they broadcasted their
stamp-of-approval for a new drug created by Pfizer Animal Health, Inc.
The green-light is significant because it is the first drug developed
specifically for the treatment of a canine cancer.

The drug, Palladia (which, incidentally, means "anything believed to
provide protection", or "a safeguard"), was created to treat a
specific kind of mast cell cancer of the skin. These aberrant skin
cells are responsible for about 20% of skin cancers in dogs. A
significant number of these cancers develop into life-threatening
growths capable of spreading to lymph nodes. The drug targets the
individual tumor cells themselves while simultaneously working to cut
off the blood supply to the whole tumor.

This represents a promising turn of events in veterinary science, as
vets have only had cancer treatments designed specifically for humans
at their disposal, without any clear evidence of the effectiveness of
those treatments.