Perth company targets dog cancer
A Perth biotech company is hoping to help cure cancer in the family dog, opening up clinical trials of its anti-cancer drug for up to 36 sick pooches.
Following approval from the NSW Government's animal care and ethics committee, Nedlands-based PharmAust was given approval to administer its PPL-1 drug as a last resort option for dogs with cancer.
The company hopes the drug - which is in very early human testing stages, with one Adelaide-based patient involved - will slow the growth and cause regression in types of late-stage tumours.
Four dogs with untreatable progressive cancers - one melanoma, two soft tissue sarcomas and one chemo-resistant lymphoma - are currently being tested.
Executive chairman Roger Aston said eligible dogs needed to have failed all standards of care and tried all human treatments available.
"We've found it to be very effective in animal models like mice," Dr Aston said.
"But when we had a compassionate study in four dogs we found the drug actually tastes pretty awful, even if you mixed it up with their favourite meal.
"So we changed it into a liquid form in soft gel capsules, like fish oil capsules, and the dogs are taking that quite well."
He said the study would be based in Sydney, but if a desperate WA-based pet owner wanted to move interstate for the testing period they would not say no.
The market for cancer therapies in dogs, which is predominately in the US, is estimated to be about $550 million.
