First-Ever, Nationwide, Multicenter, Prospective Study Of Canine Splenic Hemangiosarcoma
January 15, 2019Cutting Edge Cancer Research in Veterinary Specialty Practice: Ethos Veterinary Health Completes First-Ever, Nationwide, Multicenter, Prospective Study of Canine Splenic Hemangiosarcoma
Woburn, Mass. — Jan. 15, 2019 — Ethos Veterinary Health (Ethos) has completed the patient accrual phase of their new Canine Hemangiosarcoma Molecular Profiling (CHAMP) study.
Hemangiosarcoma is one of the most malignant forms of cancer in dogs and CHAMP is the first nationwide, multicenter, prospective study of canine splenic hemangiosarcoma, which is a cancer of the blood vessels often affecting the spleen.
“Ethos is proud of this unprecedented milestone and of our investments in innovation that will improve outcomes for our patients,” said Ames Prentiss, CEO of Ethos Veterinary Health.
The clinical description of this population of dogs with splenic tumor rupture, a common diagnosis made on an emergency basis, is expected to be submitted for publication before the end of Q1 2019 by Dr. Sam Stewart, DACVECC and colleagues at Ethos.
“I expect the CHAMP study to change many misperceptions of hemangiosarcoma in the veterinary community, and ultimately help pet owners and veterinarians make better decisions regarding treatment,” said Sam Stewart, DVM, DACVECC, Science Commercialization Fellow at Ethos Veterinary Health.
The study also provided state-of-the-art care to dogs with splenic tumor rupture over a 12-month period and allowed for the collection samples for molecular analysis. CHAMP will result in a molecular characterization of genomic alterations in canine hemangiosarcoma which will help identify dogs with distinct prognoses and potentially life-saving molecularly-targeted therapies. Publication of these genomic data is expected in Q2 2019.
“When viewed from the perspective of a veterinarian trained to treat cancer – I am a veterinary Oncologist – the new genomic analysis of this highly aggressive cancer has already provided an opportunity for me to treat dogs differently,” said Chand Khanna, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (Onc), Chief Science Officer of Ethos Veterinary Health. “We are very excited to now launch clinical trials that will assess these new treatments and change outcomes for dogs with this very aggressive cancer.”
A critical component of this prospective study will be the molecular characterization of the disease recently completed through a collaboration of Ethos and The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope. This Ethos-TGen collaboration allowed for the use of advanced next generation sequencing technology of tumor and blood samples collected from the CHAMP dogs.
Will Hendricks, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Integrated Cancer Genomics Division of TGen, added: “The results of this collaboration between TGen and Ethos will bring needed evidence to the field of molecular and precision medicine. We are not only excited about the application of these data to dogs, but also to human patients with very similar cancers as part of a comparative approach to cancer biology and therapy, so-called comparative oncology.”
These new trials will open through Ethos practices in Q2 2019. In parallel, additional studies are ongoing to develop a molecular diagnostic to help define the prognosis of individual dogs and identify optimal molecularly derived treatments for each patient.