¿SE VIENE PALLADIA?

• June 3, 2009, 1:13 PM ET
From Pfizer, First U.S. Cancer Drug for Dogs

By Jacob Goldstein
In a sign of several things — people’s willingness to spend money on their pets, the promise of targeted therapies for cancer, the drug industry’s push to expand multiple revenue streams — the FDA for the first time approved a cancer drug for dogs.
Palladia, a Pfizer drug, is approved for treating advanced mast cell tumors, a common form of cancer in dogs. In a study of 150 dogs, tumors shrank or disappeared in 43% of those that received the drug, compared with 8% of those who received a placebo. The study didn’t look at whether the drug extended the dogs’ lives, and side effects included vomiting and diharrea, said Cheryl London a vet oncologist at Ohio State who conducted early-stage research on the drug.
The company wouldn’t say what the drug will cost. But George Fennell, who runs Pfizer’s pet drugs business in the U.S., said the Pfizer sells $2.6 billion of animal drugs world-wide each year, of which slightly less than half is from its pet business.
As the human drugs business has gotten tougher in the past few years, Pfizer has brought several new pet drugs to the U.S. market, including one for weight loss, and another for motion sickness.
Like Pfizer’s (human) cancer drug Sutent, Palladia is in a class of targeted cancer drugs called tyrosine kinase inhibitors. In fact, Sutent and Palladia both came out of Sugen, a company that was acquired by Pharmacia, which in turn was bought by Pfizer.
Pet lovers who know a thing or two about the price of cancer drugs are likely hoping that Palladia won’t be as expensive as Sutent; the WSJ recently put Sutent’s price at nearly $5,000 for 28 pills of 25 mg each.