My beloved calico who passed away near the beginning of the pandemic suffered from stomatitis. I opted for full dental extraction after pharmaceutical intervention proved ineffective. She eventually passed away from an aggressive mouth cancer, which is not uncommon in cats with stomatitis.<p>I loved that cat, she got me through grad school, and losing her was miserable. My gratitude to anyone working on stomatitis treatments.
> I felt good! The next step was in sight: a test of the drug in humans, to see if we actually saw the blood levels of cyclosporine that I expected we would. We had contracted with a CRO in the Netherlands and were raising the $1+ million needed to actually carry out the test when – pop! – the biotech markets imploded. Suddenly, investors literally stopped returning my (and everyone else’s) emails.<p>That sounds like a Phase 1 trial for safety in human volunteers. If the plan was to sell the IP to or partner with a major Pharma, maybe this could work. But the IP situation may not be that clear-cut with a drug repurposing, especially given this:<p>> This is still a tall order for a guy whose background was, again, science blogger. But things went surprisingly ok, all things considered. I linked up with an excellent corporate attorney and patent attorney, both of whom agreed to let me use their services on a pay later basis. ...<p>You really can't do this on the cheap.<p>People in tech (or even science broadly) trying to get into the drug industry frankly have no clue about what it actually takes to get a drug approved for humans in the US. Hundreds of millions are table stakes. The bar is higher than just about any other industry for new product introduction, even for a repurposing.<p>Even if the bear market had stayed in hibernation for another year or two, the fundamental problem is that human drug approval is a massive resource drain that requires very deep pockets and an ironclad IP position.<p>Failure (after massive expenditure) should be considered the base case.
<i>Easier regulatory environments. Not only do you not need to talk to the FDA before testing your drug in animals, cats are way less likely to sue you if they get sick from your drug. Of course, we’d still do our best to make sure they didn’t, but it’s less likely to sink the entire company if they do.</i>
My cat got bartonella which caused this condition and had to have all his teeth removed. Prior to the surgery he was in absolute misery, and the only treatment was steroids that did little and aren't meant for longtime use. The surgery was several thousand dollars, out of reach for a lot of families. An effective treatment for this condition would be great!
This guy didn't do a lot of research when he picked chronic spontaneous urticaria as the target human indication. There already is an effective biologic, omalizumab, that works on the majority of patients and has no side effects (source: I have CSU/pressure urticaria). Cyclosporine is a heavy duty immunosuppressant with side effects that are worse than hives, imo, so I'm not sure what the target market would be. Personally I'd rather not take the risks of being seriously immunosuppressed, even if it meant getting hives. And, it was the drug my immunologist wanted me to try next if the biologic didn't work, so it's already being prescribed off label.
> I linked up with an excellent corporate attorney and patent attorney, both of whom agreed to let me use their services on a pay later basis.<p>I'm curious about this "pay later" arrangement - does it simply mean they'll invoice you on 30 day terms, or something else?
Just wanted to leave a plea for someone, anyone, to please start working on FeLV and FIV vaccines. Cats normally live 16 years. FeLV/FIV takes them at age 2 or 3. It happened to both of mine.<p>Not only is it common, but it's often assumed that it'll happen. It seems almost lucky when cats <i>don't</i> get it.<p>If an epidemic like that were affecting humans, a trillion dollars would be spent to fight it. But since it's cats, we just stay silent.<p>I wish there were more commercial incentive. I don't know how there would be, but I hope one day there will be.
If this was published on Medium, I would have highlighted this paragraph: "On the human side, the FDA mostly considers their responsibility to be to stop unsafe or ineffective drugs from entering the marketplace, and believes that allowing safe and effective drugs to enter the marketplace is a secondary goal."
A concern with using cyclosporine for neurodegeneration may be that it causes progressive kidney damage and high blood pressure with long term usage. We use it a lot for many immunologically mediated skin diseases however almost always plan to change after a year to an alternative for this reason.<p>Regarding chronic idiopathic urticaria - cyclosporine was used in the past but now in the UK omalizumab is licensed for this and generally is more safe and effective.
I have a quasi-thought experiment for fellow HN readers.<p>If you found out one of the stray cats at unofficial “cat shelter” tested positive for FeLV and the person who runs the “cat shelter” seems oblivious to it, would you consider unethical to let the person continue run it? The FeLV virus is likely to spread among all the cats and result in a short life of suffering and illness.
@OP you should reach out to my local University and its Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC) here in PEI, Canada.<p><a href="https://www.upei.ca/avc/research" rel="nofollow">https://www.upei.ca/avc/research</a>
Gee whiz this is a great chemical, let's find something it's good for and perhaps we'll be able to make money on it someday...<p>Seems like a really long diversion from the original goals, doesn't it? "People have problem A and i want to test solution X for effectiveness" was the first principle, right? Now it sounds a lot like "we bought tons of this crap now we've gotta push it <i>somehow</i>"
god this article sounds like a writing prompt.<p>"im making drugs for cats!" I shreik in my underwear as the FBI raids my derelict RV full of cat clozapine and TV dinner trays.<p>"im making drugs for cats" I calmly explain as i wheel a teetering trolly full of drain cleaner and paint thinner toward my car.<p>"im making drugs...for cats?" I shake my head as the prospect of tenure track seems to fade away.