The U.S. Department of Agriculture has granted conditional approval for Elanco Animal Health’s Canine Parvovirus Monoclonal Antibody.
“Elanco is proud to bring to market this first-in-class treatment that will save puppies’ lives while alleviating the emotional and financial burden of pet owners and veterinary care teams,” said Jeff Simmons, the company’s president and CEO.
Although safe, effective canine parvovirus vaccines are available and included in every dog’s core vaccination program, outbreaks continue to occur.
Elanco scientists encoded the antibody using a DNA dog constant region and a DNA rat variable region to create a chimeric antibody.
Canine Parvovirus Monoclonal Antibody binds to a specific viral protein and inhibits the virus from attaching or gaining entry to cells, Elanco reported. Researchers also hypothesized that viral particle aggregation and sequestration, viral destabilization and viral phagocytosis could be action mechanisms.
In a treatment efficacy study, no dogs treated with Canine Parvovirus Monoclonal Antibody died after being challenged with CPV-2b, compared with 57% of dogs who died without the treatment. Clinical signs, including diarrhea, fever, inappetence, vomiting and lymphopenia, also resolved significantly faster.
According to Elanco, the treatment is effective in dogs 8 weeks and older.
“Parvovirus is an unpredictable disease that causes significant strain on pet owners and is labor-intensive and stressful for shelters and veterinary clinic staff,” said Kristin Zersen, DVM, DACVECC, speaking on behalf of Elanco.
“It’s life-changing and industry-defining to be able to offer a proven solution to canine parvovirus that limits the need for hospitalization, reducing the impact this disease has on hundreds of thousands of dogs each year,” said Dr. Zersen, an assistant professor of small animal emergency and critical care at Colorado State University.
The solution must be stored frozen and then thawed and administered intravenously.
Elanco expects to ship Canine Parvovirus Monoclonal Antibody within the next few weeks, pending the approval of individual states.