08/29/2024
News about a completed canine cancer study resulting a possible vaccine by 2025…
Results are in on one of the studies that you are helping to make a reality thru your donations to Chase away K9 cancer thru our partnership with the National Canine Cancer Foundation.
Thank you all so very much for your continued love and support, I know that together we are helping to make a difference in the lives of our pets. 🐾 ❤️ 🐾
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Vaccine Against Canine Cancer Study is complete.
by Sara Nice | Aug 21, 2024 | National Canine Cancer Foundation.
Calviri’s Vaccine Against Canine Cancer Study (VACCS), has finished the 5-year, 804 dog clinical trial. The VACCS aimed at investigating a novel preventative cancer vaccine in dogs. This trial leverages what is known about shared neoantigens. Neoantigens are irregular peptides from mutations in tumor DNA. Previous attempts at developing cancer vaccines have been unsuccessful due the fact that the mutations are unique to each person or dog.
How does the canine cancer vaccine work?
Stephen Albert Johnston, CEO of Calviri and former Professor at Arizona State University, discovered unique protein fragments that arise from errors during tumor RNA processing and that these fragments are present in many cancers. The VACCS vaccine consisted of 31 of the shared neoantigens, thus allowing a broad-spectrum approach instead of needing to personalize the vaccine.
Three well known veterinary colleges helped to conduct the VACCS trial, Colorado State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of California, Davis. This collaborative research effort along with a study that was designed as a randomized, placebo-controlled study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a cancer preventive vaccine in dogs ensured the scientific merit of the study.
“The motivation of many of the dog owners was that this trial would lead to developing a vaccine to prevent cancer in humans. We all hope they are right” stated Dr. Jenna Burton, co-principal investigator at CSU.
Each of the participants were meticulously screened to exclude any pre-existing tumors or other serious health issues. Dogs were randomly assigned to either receive the investigational vaccine or a placebo version. Then they were examined every 6 months for tumors and received a vaccine boost each year.
Was the trial a success?
According to Dr. Douglas Thamm, principal clinical investigator (CSU), “The owner participation was amazing. This was one of the largest clinical trials for dogs and it required significant commitment on the part of the owners. The owners made the trial a success.”
The analysis of the trial’s data is still ongoing. It will be published in a peer-reviewed journal as the initial safety and efficacy profile is highly encouraging. Based on this, Johnston, stated that “The safety and efficacy results are encouraging enough that we have begun production of an improved version of the vaccine for approval and conditional sales.” If things go well it is possible this vaccine could be available in late 2025.
