By Marissa Heflin
(Portions of this article are reprinted from the website Veterinary Practice News.)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has conditionally licensed a vaccine to treat canine oral melanoma—the first approved therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of cancer in either animals or humans, according to the company that produces it, Merial.
The vaccine is indicated for the treatment of dogs with stage II or stage III oral melanoma for which local disease control has been achieved.
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The vaccine alerts the immune system to the presence of the melanoma tumor protein tyrosinase. The vaccine uses a gene for human tyrosinase inserted into a DNA plasmid. The human tyrosinase produced is different enough from canine tyrosinase that it stimulates an immune response, yet similar enough to the canine tyrosinase that the immune response is directed against melanoma cells.
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Because additional efficacy and safety research will be conducted during the conditional license period, Merial is making the vaccine available only to specialists practicing veterinary oncology, said Robert Menardi, DVM, technical marketing manager for Merial.
And because the current licensing is conditional, he said, the vaccine has yet to be formally named.
He said that the company intends for the vaccine to be available to a broader practice after the conditional license period.
“Canine melanoma is one of the most frustrating and aggressive diseases to treat,” Dr. Menardi said, and the vaccine will provide an additional treatment option.
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The canine melanoma vaccine is designed to be administered in an initial vaccination series of one 0.4 mL dose every two weeks for a total of four doses. Following the initial series, one booster dose is administered every six months.
For the full article, which includes contact information, please visit their website at: http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/vet-dept/canine-practice/canine-melanoma-vaccine-gets-conditional-ok.aspx
Thanks to Carol Brown for sending this article our way.
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