Pfizer's new cancer drug for dogs wins approval

Pfizer has won approval for a new cancer drug for dogs with the kind of clinical data most developers can only dream about.

The FDA approved Palladia to treat advanced mast cell tumors in dogs, the first cancer therapy OK'd for canines. Researchers recruited 150 dogs for the pivotal pet study, and found that Palladia triggered the reduction or disappearance of tumors in 43 percent of cases. Fewer than one in ten dogs in the placebo arm had a similar response in the trial.

In some respects Pfizer is finding it easier to get new approvals for animal drugs than the human variety. With people spending ever larger sums on their pets, the pharma giant has won approval in recent years for drugs that can reduce animals' weight or ease motion sickness. Both Palladia and Sutent, another tyrosine kinase inhibitor marketed at Pfizer, were originally advanced at a company called Sugen, acquired by Pharmacia, which was bought out by Pfizer.

- read the report from the Wall Street Journal

ALSO: Merck, meanwhile, is putting some of its animal health assets on the market to ease its way past antitrust regulators as it pushes through its acquisition of Schering-Plough. Report

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