Quakertown vet clinic offers drug trial that could extend dog’s life

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Helping dogs live longer, better lives –  that’s the aim of a new experimental drug. It’s a pill that’s designed to slow down the aging process, so our beloved dogs can be with us a little longer.
It was love at first sight when Brent Sheldon’s family first saw Riley.
“He does not fail to put a smile on our face every day,” Sheldon said.
Hoping to keep him around as long as possible, the 10-and-a-half-year-old corgi is part of a clinical trial for an experimental drug made by a biotech company called Loyal, designed to improve and extend the lives of dogs.
“I didn’t even have to think about it,” Sheldon said.
“That obviously is every dog owner’s dream. It’s how can I keep my best friend alive and healthier and happy longer,” said Dr. Sam Geller of Quakertown Veterinary Clinic.
Geller said so far, he’s enrolled about 50 dogs and is accepting more to test the daily pill.
“It helps with potentially preventing insulin resistance,” Geller said. “It helps with managing fats in your body. It helps with managing lipids in the bloodstream.”
The way the study is designed has half of the dogs getting the drug, and the other half getting a placebo. So we don’t know which one Riley is getting.
“The FDA wants you to show that your drug is better than a sugar pill,” Geller said.
The FDA said there’s a “reasonable expectation of effectiveness” for one of Loyal’s other drugs and is now seeking it for the new one.
“This medication is intended to help preserve metabolic health,” said Dr. Brennen McKenzie, director of veterinary medicine at Loyal.
McKenzie said the drug works on the principle of calorie restriction that’s been shown to help canine and human health, but there’s no limit on what the dogs eat.
“The way that this drug works is essentially to activate some of the same pathways in the body that caloric restriction activates, but in a way that is safer and more convenient. Because none of us want to starve our dogs in order to make them live longer,” McKenzie said. 
The study is aiming to include more than 1,000 dogs. Sheldon is hopeful it will keep Riley around as long as possible.
“As long as it doesn’t change the way he acts, his quality of life,” he said.
Researchers don’t know how long this could extend life, months or years– that’s what the four-year research will examine. The nationwide study is currently enrolling larger dogs who are at least 10 years old.