Not only have we in the U.S. made ourselves fat, we’ve dragged our dogs along with us. Hence, Slentrol, Pfizer’s FDA-approved drug to help pudgy pugs lose a neck roll or three.
But the FDA says a preliminary analysis suggests a “potential correlation” between the breed of the dog and certain side effects of the drug, Dow Jones Newswires reports, citing an agency document. The FDA is planning to study genetic data on dogs that have taken Slentrol to see if certain breeds are more susceptible to problems. It didn’t specify which adverse events it’s tracking.
Pfizer disagrees with this plan, DJN reports. The company says side effects listed on the label, including vomiting, diarrhea and lethargy, are usually mild, and that specific breeds don’t seem to be disproportionately affected.
The breeds most commonly associated with adverse events with Slentrol — Labrador retriever, beagle, golden retriever, dachshund, pug and Chihuahua — are also very common, and some are predisposed to obesity, Pfizer says.
Meantime, there’s been lots of action on the diet-drugs-for-humans front. Last week Abbott pulled Meridia from the market at the FDA’s behest, on concerns of cardiovascular side effects. Three experimental drugs are up for FDA consideration; an advisory panel has voted not to recommend two of them, Arena’s lorcaserin and Vivus’s Qnexa. Orexigen’s Contrave comes before the panel late this year. (The FDA doesn’t have to follow the advice of its advisory panel, though it often does.)
Humans on the hunt for new options shouldn’t steal Fido’s Slentrol, however. The FDA has said that Pfizer tested the drug in a small number of people and it produced swollen abdomens, stomach pain, diarrhea, flatulence, nausea and vomiting.
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