US approves cancer drug for dogs

Until now, all cancer drugs used in veterinary medicine were developed for use in humans and were not specifically approved for animals. Federal law allows veterinarians 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 yesterday. "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."