For many dog owners, the advantages and benefits of owning a larger breed canine are apparent.
Bigger dogs generally make better family pets, especially compared to smaller breeds, and also make for better home security. Bigger dogs are also generally more “dog”-like than some of their smaller, more feline-like counterparts.
But the downside of owning bigger dogs is also a clear issue: They’re bigger (obviously), making them poor fits for smaller domiciles, and also eat (and excrete) significantly more than smaller dogs. They’re also generally more prone to health issues.
Big dogs also just don’t live as long as smaller dogs — easily the biggest problem for anyone who’s ever grown particularly attached to their canine companions.
That all being said, a “groundbreaking” new drug from “Loyal,” a San Francisco-based biotech company could be inching closer to mitigating that last flaw, according the company’s CEO and founder.
“Today, I’m so proud to announce that Loyal has earned what we believe to be the FDA’s first-ever formal acceptance that a drug can be developed and approved to extend lifespan,” CEO Celine Halioua wrote in a Nov. 28 blog post.
She explained: “Four years ago I founded Loyal with a simple vision — to bring to market the first drug explicitly approved and labeled for healthy lifespan extension.
“Loyal was only a few months old and about five people when we decided to begin by targeting the abnormally short lifespan of large breed dogs with a drug program we code-named LOY-001.”
She added: “In regulatory parlance, we have completed the technical effectiveness portion of our conditional approval application for LOY-001’s use in large dog lifespan extension.”
Would you give this drug to your dog?
“In my professional opinion, the drug is groundbreaking,” Dr. Ivana Crnec, a veterinarian with the Veterinarians.org foundation, told Fox News.
“We still need to wait and see its results and potential side effects, but so far, LOY-001 is definitely promising,” she added to the outlet. “The fact that the FDA described the drug as having ‘reasonable expectations of effectiveness’ says a lot about its potential.”
Dr. Jeffrey Krasnoff, a New York-based veterinarian, was a bit more reserved in his excitement for the potential of this life-extending drug.
“It sounds too good to be true,” Krasnoff told Fox News.
He added: “I would love to see the research. It would be awesome if it truly made a difference in the longevity of our large canine friends.”
As to how this product would work — should it actually hit the markets pending significant further testing, as Fox notes — it’s currently designed as a shot to be administered to one’s dog every three to six months by their vet.
According to Fox News, for the development of this product to continue and hit the public, “a large clinical trial and a review of safety and manufacturing data” will be required — processes that will take some time regardless.
Halioua noted in the original blog post that the company is working on developing a daily pill version of the same product.
A look at the “Loyal” product page shows that the company is primarily selling means to extend a dog’s life.
The product page notes that it expects the various anti-aging drugs to launch between “Early 2025” and “2026.”
