Monoclonal Antibodies
So I listened to a talk from a drug rep the other day who came into the clinic to promote Cytopoint, the anti-allergy injection for dogs.
It’s a great drug, overall. Super useful for many, literally life changing for a few, and now a mainstay of the allergy treatments we offer. But I had to laugh at something the rep said:
“It’s not really a drug. It’s a bio-mimicry molecule! It’s replicating normal molecules that would be found in the body and just providing more of them!”
And I’m sitting here thinking: that is still totally a drug. A drug is any substance which when given to a living organism produces a physiological effect. 10mg of lokivetmab is most definitely a drug.
But if you are going to argue that Cytopoint is not a drug because it mimics a natural molecule found in the body, then by that logic neither are insulin, thyroxine, cortisone or just about every single hormone.
For goodness sake. I have to wonder what planet marketers live on some days.
We also had a bit of a debate because we’re widely told that Cytopoint shouldn’t have any side effects. Partly this is because monoclonal antibodies aren’t well known in veterinary medicine and they haven’t been around that long.
They’re certainly much safer than the equivalent drugs in other classes, but they’re not ‘side effect free’. They’re a protein, so it’s theoretically possible to be allergic to it. Like the Kesimpta I take it seems likely that some dogs will be ‘off colour’ for a day or so. The most common side effect is being quiet the next say, so it is pretty mild for a typical dog and still worth it. But it’s not zero.
Having a headache for a day is much milder than having acute kidney failure, but I wonder if we’ll get more reports in the future of extremely sporadic weird side effects as we gain more experience with this class of medication.
Medical advancements are wonderful and exciting. But don’t let marketers do all the talking!
And remember to report side effects to the manufacturer.
