Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Adjunct Therapy in Dogs with Osteosarcoma

Rapamycin is a chemotherapeutic that showed promise in a past study for the treatment of metastatic osteosarcoma in dogs. Subsequent research helped refine the recommended dose of oral rapamycin for canine patients. Using this new information, researchers will evaluate the effectiveness of oral rapamycin as an adjunct, post-surgery therapy to combat metastatic disease in 80 client-owned dogs. Dogs will receive standard-of-care (surgical removal of tumor and carboplatin chemotherapy) followed by four months of rapamycin treatment. Data from this study will be compared to data from a concurrent standard-of-care, control study to assess the effectiveness of rapamycin in dogs with osteosarcoma. This study will be led by the National Cancer Institute and conducted through the Comparative Oncology Trials Consortium, a network of 21 veterinary teaching hospitals in North America.