Two new clinical trials involve bringing new therapies developed by external companies to dogs with naturally occurring disease to evaluate the drug’s effectiveness.
Immunotherapy in Canine Oral Malignant Melanoma
A trial led by Dr. Tim Fan at Illinois will evaluate safety and effectiveness of cANK-101 in dogs with oral malignant melanoma. This canine drug was developed by Ankyra Therapeutics, a Boston-based biotech company, using the company’s novel anchored immunotherapy platform. The platform allows retention of immune-oncology drugs in the tumor microenvironment for several weeks, which promotes local immune-mediated tumor regression while limiting systemic toxicity.
“Dogs with melanoma have few effective treatment options,” said Dr. Fan. “By including pet dogs with naturally occurring melanoma, our trial will evaluate this new technology in a highly relevant and immune competent patient population.”
Rapamycin in Canine DCM
This study will investigate whether a new treatment, rapamycin, can reduce heart size and improve function during the occult/preclinical stage of dilated cardiomyopathy in dogs already receiving pimobendan. Dogs must be at least three years of age and must pass the echocardiographic and full screening tests to be eligible to enroll in this 6-month study.
All study diagnostics plus a 6-month supply of pimobendan are provided free of charge. TriviumVet, a company based in Ireland and a distributor of rapamycin, is sponsoring this trial.
