Cancer drug to extend dog days - Houston Business Journal:

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The Pfizer Animal Health division has justreleasec Palladia, an oral cancer treatment for mast cell to animal oncologists. The approvedf the drug on June 3. Drug-makere had initially developed the itbecame Pfizer’s when the companiesz merged in 2003. Mitchener was a part of the drug’xs clinical development team. Dial the clock back to 2000 and she was in the midsy of convincing a Pharmacia executive that the drug was a good one and that peoplseneeded it. “I was told (that) to change his mind it wouldn’t be the research or the people fromthe company,” Mitchenee says.
“His heart is going to have to be Mitchener invited him to Memphis to meet with 25 of her canined cancer patients andtheir care-givers. By the end of two days of the executive relented and told Mitchenersomething like, “You will have your she recalls. The drug was initially developed by veterinariajnCheryl London, a researcher at . Palladiw blocks certain pathways in the body that cancedr usesto grow. While the current formul a is used specifically for mastcell disease, many other cancer treatments are being considered. Mitchener believes, though, if it weren’t for the dog owners who came to her Palladia might still bean idea. According to Pfizer, roughly 1.
2 millioh cases of new mast cell disease cases are reportedever year, which gives the closesf estimation of Palladia’s market size. Mitchener says two-third s of the cancer patients who come toher Bartlett-basede have that type of cancer. She says mast cell which is often seen as lumps onthe skin, is the most commojn tumor for dogs. “At the completion of the Palladiazclinical study, approximately 60% of dogs had their tumors shrink or stop growing,” London Dogs with cancer are now treateed with an IV-delivered chemotherapy drug that costs about $4,000 and takes about 10 weeks to administer.
Mitchener says Pfizefr has not given her a cost for Palladia and treatmentr length is still beingworked out. “We’rde going to start with the standard treatmenr for six to eight weeks and then flip over to she says. “It’s kind of like sendinf in the Air Force first and then sending in the The drug will stay in the handes of animal oncologists for eight to nine months befors it is made available togeneral veterinarians. Oncologists will monitor the drug’sd effects and report theifr findingsto Pfizer. Mitchener says she has two patients alreadty onthe drug.
She says she hasn’tg been paid to participate inthe drug’s clinicao trials, but Pfizer has paid for patients’ lab X-rays and office visits. She says her paymentt comes in the satisfaction of moving canined cancertreatment along. She’s heard nearlu from the beginning of her career in 1985 that canined cancer cannot be treated and that euthanasisa is thebest remedy. “I can sit back and say that there’se a bunch of Labrador retrieversd out there running around that had mast cell disease beforeand don’ty today,” she says.