July 11, 2024
As mentioned, now on my second career, I work for a clinical research organization (CRO), so after incredulously reading about the stagnation in hemangiosarcoma treatment progress, Craig and I started looking for potential clinical trials. We found two that sounded promising (at least one more to come…):
- One was a University of Minnesota study combining doxorubicin with propranolol, shown to slow disease progression and improve survival in dogs and humans with similar cancers.
- The second was eBAT, a drug with fewer side effects and a six-month survival rate of 70% in trials, compared to less than 40% with standard treatment.* #butdontgetexcited #seeasteriskbelow
We reached out to the principal investigator (PI) for the U Minn study, and fortunately, she responded quickly. Due to the distance, it wasn’t possible to enroll Cat in their trial, but the PI did email us their protocol (i.e. a detailed plan that outlines how a clinical study will be conducted including drug and dosage information, safety measures, timeline, etc.).
We sent the protocol to her oncology team at NC State. They approved of this approach,** however, they cautioned that Cat would be the first cancer dog ever treated at their institution using the propranolol combination therapy.
We decided to move forward with chemo per the U Minn clinical trial protocol. I wasn’t overly concerned that she would be NCSU’s first go at this treatment; in fact, I was little disappointed that, with all the positive data U Minn had compiled, thus far, NSCU wasn’t more enthusiastic about it. As an academic institution, it seemed they’d be excited to be part of something pioneering like this. Maybe not. […And as I update this on 1/19/2025 with Cat exceeding their expectations, I still don’t know why they haven’t shown more interest or follow-up.]
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Notes & an update:
*Later in the week, I contacted the manufacturer of eBAT and learned that there had been only a limited supply of the drug with none currently available and none due to be on the market anytime soon. The treatment is still on my radar, though.
**In response to us proposing the U Minn protocol, the NCSU onc team recommended that we add a second chemo drug, Vinblastine, in addition to the doxorubicin/propranolol combo. Instead of receiving chemo every other week, Cat would need to receive it every single week for this regimen. Ugh. From a quality-of-life perspective (versus any ambiguous benefit she might see from that drug as far as they could advise and my research could reveal), we opted not to go with the Vinblastine addition, and I remain happy we made that decision.
– We also enrolled her in the Yale EGFR/HER2 Vaccine Trial. More on this to come as soon as I have time!
21 days post-splenectomy, Cat & Wolfy entertain themselves by watching their fave YouTube vid: “Ain’t Nothin But A Doggie Pool Party”
