It can be heart-breaking when your dog receives a diagnosis of cancer or some other disease. However, participation in a clinical trial could help your dog and can also help future generations of dogs to have better outcomes.
As we have discussed in previous blogs, the treatment of cancer in dogs utilizes many of the same methods available in human medicine. Chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, and surgery are all part of the strategies used to fight cancer in animal companions.
🐾 What is a canine clinical trial? Clinical trials are research studies performed in dogs that are designed at testing a medical, surgical, behavioral, or radiation-associated intervention. Clinical trials are the primary way that veterinarians and researchers can find out if a new treatment, like a new drug, is effective to treat a disease in dogs.
🐾 Are these trials safe? Although clinical trials are considered to be “experimental,” these treatments have been tested for effectiveness, safety in laboratory animals. Also, the therapy is offered to companion animals because it is considered to be of potential benefit to the dog. While it is not guaranteed that the experimental treatment will work, in the setting of cancer that is not responding to the standard medications, a clinical trial can provide the opportunity for a better outcome.
In addition to the drug treatment, your dog may undergo additional testing. In addition to providing therapy to a pet with cancer, it is often common for the veterinarian to perform tests during the treatment. These can include different types of analyses using blood, urine, or tumor samples. These analyses can then provide valuable information that may benefit present and future cancer patients.
🐾 How can these studies help? Clinical trials help veterinarians evaluate ways to improve the treatment of a disease. These studies can also help develop tools to improve the diagnosis of a disease and improve the quality of care each patient receives.
🐾 Where are these clinical trials offered? Most clinical research trials investigating new treatments for cancer are conducted at schools of veterinary medicine.
If you want to learn more about canine trials, check out some helpful resources below:
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