Drug Invented for Dogs Could Help Human Cancer Sufferers

An experimental canine cancer drug is so promising that researchers are hoping it could one day help human patients suffering from the same aggressive brain malignancy that claimed US Sen. John McCain's life this past week. The drug is for glioblastoma, a fast-growing cancer for which doctors have few treatment options. Per CBS Miami, a clinical trial at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech is hoping the drug, which is injected directly into the deep brain tumors using a needle, could be the best hope for dogs with the disease.

Per WSPA, researchers found that the tumors in the dogs in the study began to shrink in a matter of weeks. For a cancer whose median survival time after diagnosis hovers around 15 months, that's huge. In fact, the initial results have been so promising in dogs that the National Institutes of Health is now helping to fund the trial. (More dog stories.)