Louie the beagle is beating the odds thanks to PharmAust’s canine cancer trial

In PharmAust’s current Phase-2 study in the treatment of B-Cell Lymphoma in Canines with Monepantel (MPL) a 12-year-old Beagle “Louie”, has surpassed 240 days (8 months) because of the treatment, is showing no side effects and his quality of life of remains excellent.

Unfortunately, B-cell Lymphoma in dogs has a poor prognosis and without treatment, many types of lymphoma are fatal within a few weeks.

Veterinarians may advise palliative care (steroid drugs) to reduce symptoms and possibly extend the survival time for a few weeks, or offering chemotherapy which, while sometimes extending survival to around 12 months, can result in side effects that severely impact the quality of life.

PharmAust’s (ASX:PAA)  commercial strategy is to take the middle ground in the treatment of the diease by inducing stable disease for 4-6 months with minimal side effects, so that the family and the dog can enjoy the limited time together.

Louie enjoys an excellent quality of life

Louie is a 12-year-old Beagle and has been a beloved family pet for over 10 years. In June 2022, his owners took him to see the local vet after finding some lumps in his neck.

Louie was diagnosed with lymphoma and given 4-8 weeks to live.

“We were given a couple of treatment options including chemotherapy or steroids. Chemo wasn’t an option for us, and we didn’t like the sound of the side effects of large doses of steroids.,” Louie’s owners said.

“For one thing, making a Beagle even more hungry than usual would have been a challenge.

“Our vet told us about a drug trial that would possibly suit Louie if we were interested. An appointment was made to take Louie to Veterinary Specialists Aotearoa (VSA) in Auckland for an initial assessment.

At the end of the initial visit, we were given an initial prescription of Monepantel and an appointment for a follow up visit in 2 weeks.

“Louie took the Monepantel tablets for those 2 weeks with no side effects and just carried on with the normal life of a 12-year-old Beagle.

“At the 2-week check-up, it was found that Louie’s lymph nodes had shrunk 20% and there were no side effects from the drug.”

At Louie’s last check-up, the size of his lymph nodes that can be easily measured had hardly changed since the 2-week measurements were taken.

“Louie has continued taking the Monepantel; we are now 9 months on from the

initial diagnosis and Louie is still going strong. He’s still enjoying a good quality of life and fingers crossed he still has a little while left yet,” they said.

“The Monepantel has been a great treatment for Louie as it has extended his life well beyond the initial prognosis with no side-effects and has maintained his quality of life.”

Three times the life expectancy

While Louise was diagnosed with Progressive Disease (PD) at the end of his 28-day trial, despite this poor prognosis, he has achieved > 240 days of good quality of life.

“Thus, it appears that dogs given MPL + prednisolone (or, in Louie’s case, MPL on its own) after the 28-day trial period are living three times longer than expected with good quality of life and no chemotherapy-related side effects,” PharmAust said.

“The life expectancy of dogs with B-Cell Lymphoma, treated with the standard of care (palliative steroid therapy) typically provides for 42-56 days of survival in association with progression.

“The combination of MPL with prednisolone has extended median survival to these pet dogs of 150 days.

“More importantly, owner surveys from dogs in the trial indicate an excellent Quality of Life (QoL) score feedback.”

The company expected to complete its Phase-2 trial by mid-2023 – and then commence a subsequent Phase-3 registration trial.

PharmAust is currently recruiting dogs to join the trial, with 8 out of a further 20 dogs with Stable Disease at Day 28 required to meet the statistical outcomes for a successful Phase-2 trial.

For more information, including Participating Clinics and Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria visit https://www.pharmaust.com/petdogtrial/

This article was developed in collaboration with PharmAust Limited, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.