Medicine and Oncology are constantly changing fields as we learn more about an illness, and test new ways to diagnose and treat many diseases. SouthPaws has led many efforts in bringing the benefits of clinical trials to patients in the Washington DC area.

Some clinical trials give us access to drugs and therapeutics BEFORE they are commercially available. Others use drugs that are commercially available but in combinations or uses that are new. Some clinical trials have partial to complete funding available.

SouthPaws Oncology and Internal Medicine Departments participate in these clinical trials. We have assisted many different veterinary university teaching hospitals in accumulating patient data for specific projects as we typically see many more patients than most teaching hospitals. We also participate in VCOG (Veterinary Cooperative Oncology Group) and ACI (Animal Clinical Investigations) trials.

Most clinical trials have very strict entry criteria. Only patients with specific types of illnesses are eligible to participate. The selected patients for these trials are evaluated by one of our specialists. All clients will be given information about the “standard of care” therapy or diagnostics. The study details (extra testing, diagnostics, known information about the experimental drug or compound, known side effects, monitoring and re-visit schedule, funding mechanism and timing) are discussed. Once a pet owner has a complete understanding of the values/benefits of traditional/standard treatment/diagnostics vs. the trial, a decision can be made as to whether the trial is appropriate for their pet.

Once a study “closes” – we will be unable to enter additional patients in that trial. Typically, if a new drug or therapy is helping a patient, we can continue to get it for THAT patient, but not for any new ones.

For more information about clinical trials in pets, see the following websites: http://www.animalci.com, http://www.vetcancersociety.org, or http://www.acvim.org. Please contact our office with any questions at (703) 752-9100, or email us at clinical.trials@SouthPaws.com.