The Cutting Edge Veterinary Podcast

STUDENT: Michaela Douglas
FACULTY MENTOR: Dr. Rebecca Jackson
Previously, FIP was an invariably fatal disease with a median survival of 9 days after diagnosis19,21. Remdesivir (the prodrug of GS441524) and GS441524 are antiviral drugs that are now saving the lives of cats across the globe4. Even with the unlicensed product, the survival rate of cats was 82.2% (116/141) in cats with effusive FIP, 85.1% (137/161) in cats with mixed FIP, and 93.9% (153/163) in dry FIP cats after 84 days of treatment 12,13. Currently, there is very little veterinary oversite in treating FIP cats with remdesivir and GS-44152411. Even with the unlicensed drug, since veterinarians are legally able to administer, consult, monitor and treat the side effects resulting from the unlicensed product, veterinarians need to take on a more active role in monitoring the progress and health of these patients while they are treated with the unlicensed forms of these drugs26. Additionally, as of February 2024 Canadians veterinarians now have access to legal Remdesivir and GS-441524 from a drug company in the UK called BOVA, with the completion of an emergency drug release29. As a result, veterinarians also need to play a role in prescribing and sourcing these drugs. This paper/presentation will provide practitioners in Canada some background on GS-441524 and remdesivir and provide them with the current knowledge on these drugs to aid in therapeutic decision making.

Release date:

29 September 2024