A new tool treating canine osteosarcoma
What is the difference between ELIAS Cancer Immunotherapy and traditional treatments like chemotherapy and radiation?
Last month, ELIAS Animal Health, a companion animal cancer therapeutics company, announced that its ELIAS Cancer Immunotherapy (ECI) received full approval from the USDA Center for Veterinary Biologics.1 With the approval of ECI, it became the first autologous prescription product to receive this approval for treating canine osteosarcoma. So, how does it compare to a more traditional treatment?
In this video interview with dvm360, Craig Clifford, DVM, MS, DACVIM (Oncology) and Christine Mullin, VMD, DACVIM (Oncology), both from BluePearl Malvern in Malvern, Pennsylvania, explained how this new therapy works for treating this form of cancer and how it differs from chemotherapy and radiation.
Below is a partial transcript, lightly edited for clarity:
Craig Clifford, DVM, MS, DACVIM (Oncology): So to go back to your question, where it's different is when we give, say, something like chemotherapy, we have a select dose that we use. It goes in the body, it does its thing, and then it's metabolized and gone. The beauty of immunotherapy is that, theoretically, once it starts rolling the immune system, it's almost like having a draft for a war. The immune system just keeps pumping out those cells, so the anti cancer efficacy for it can continue for a prolonged period.
Christine Mullin, DVM, DACVIM (Oncology): One of the other strategies or mechanisms of progression that cancers possess is that they can find ways to evade the immune system. So that's one of the other hurdles that we have to overcome with immunotherapy is we know these tumor antigens are present, we need to find a way to show them to the immune system and remind the immune system and give the immune system all the tools it needs to be able to recognize and attack those antigens, or tumor proteins on an ongoing basis. So it's some of the things that we really like about this new product is that it uses multiple different angles of attack or strategies to enhance that immune recognition and attack and ongoing memory.
Reference
McCafferty C. USDA approves new canine cancer therapy. DVM 360. Published March 19, 2025. Accessed April 4, 2025. https://www.dvm360.com/view/usda-approves-new-canine-cancer-therapy
Want to learn more from Clifford and immunotherapy in veterinary oncology? Join Clifford and all of our amazing faculty this May in Nashville! Learn more and register here today.
