The Connection is UC Davis Veterinary Center for Clinical Trials (VCCT) newsletter for pet lovers interested in veterinary clinical research. Our newsletter will feature our Clinical Trials VIPs (Very Important Pets) and highlight some of the amazing work done at the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. The VCCT helps to support numerous clinical trials in Oncology, Imaging, Internal Medicine, and more. You may learn more about the types of clinical trials we conduct below. Our clinical trials were recently impacted by COVID-19 shelter in place guidelines and we are in the process of opening our trials back up in accordance with UC Davis guidance. If you’re looking for more VCCT updates between our newsletters, you can also follow us on Instagram @UCDavis.VCCT
We look forward to sharing more about our work with you!
FOR THE LOVE OF PETS
Very Important Pet (VIP)
Meet Cali!
Cali is our first Clinical Trial VIP! Cali was just a young pup when she participated in Dr. Jodi Westropp's UTI Treatment Study featured below.
Several years ago, Dr. Michele Steffey completed a trial assessing a new technique (transnare cryoablation) for the treatment of intranasal tumors (inside the nose) in dogs. The trial was so successful that the procedure is now done at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at UC Davis on a regular basis. As with any procedure, not all patients are candidates for transnare cryoablation; however, we are excited that there is now another option for patients with intranasal tumors. Thank you, Dr. Steffey!
A veterinary clinical trial is a study involving client-owned animals that aims to evaluate the effects of new therapies, medical devices, and/or diagnostic tests for use in veterinary or human medicine.
We have many different types of clinical trials:
Drug trials to assess the safety and efficacy of new drugs
Device/surgical technique trials to assess new devices (e.g., new systems to automatically deliver pain medication following surgery) or improve surgical techniques
Behavior trials (e.g., trials assessing cat activity and feeding behaviors)
Genetic studiesto find the genes causing or contributing to different diseases
Stem cell trials to assess safety and efficacy of new stem cell therapies for different diseases
Imaging/diagnostic trials to improve our ability to diagnose the disease or condition
Other trials (e.g., vaccine against cancer trial for healthy dogs)
Q&A: You are part of a teaching hospital, so you study everything, right?
We see a lot of patients at the VMTH and have over 70 trials going on in many different areas of medicine, like neurology, oncology, dentistry). But, unfortunately, we do not have clinical trials for all diseases or conditions. There is a lot to consider when deciding to initiate a veterinary clinical trial, including (but not limited to) the number of patients we see with the disease or condition and funding.
If you don't see a trial for what your pet is suffering from, send us an email and see if we know of anything!
Eligible: Dogs that have clinical signs (small amounts of urine frequently, and frequent or painful urination, blood in the urine, straining to urinate or urinary incontinence that has resolved with past antibiotic treatment) and either have had more than 1 UTI in the past 12 months or whose had a multi-drug resistant bacterial strain identified in the urine
