Via Work-Healthcare.com

There is a disease that humans and our four-legged friends have in common. That disease is cancer. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first drug made specifically to treat cancer in dogs manufactured by Pfizer Animal Health Incorporated. Palladia is a new drug designed to treat canine skin tumors. This development in veterinary medicine gives doctors and animal lovers better treatment options reports the Washington Post:

“Prior to this approval, veterinarians had to rely on human oncology drugs, without knowledge of how safe or effective they would be for dogs,” stated Bernadette Dunham, director of FDA’s center for veterinary medicine.

“This cancer drug approval for dogs is an important step forward for veterinary medicine,” Dunham said.

In previous years, veterinarians had to rely on oncology drugs designed for human consumption without sufficient knowledge of safety and effectiveness. Like most drugs, Palladia has side effects including diarrhea, decrease or loss of appetite, lameness, weight loss and blood in the stool. In time we will be able to see the long term effects of this drug.