Oral Melanoma Vaccine Gets Full License Approval
ONCEPT, a canine melanoma vaccine, has received full license approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) making it the first and only USDA-approved therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of cancer in either animals or humans. ONCEPT is designed to be used in dogs after the onset of oral melanoma to hinder the cancer’s progress and extend the dog’s life.

Oral melanomas are the most the common type of cancer in dogs and, until now, treatment options for oral melanomas have not been very successful. Dogs suffering from stage II or III malignant melanomas tend to survive less than 5 to 6 months when treated with surgery alone, and radiation and chemotherapy generally do not stop the cancer from continuing to spread to other parts of the body. Clinical studies have shown that dogs treated with ONCEPT have had significantly longer life spans. In fact, according to Merial, the company licensing ONCEPT, “median survival time of dogs treated with ONCEPT could not be determined because more than 50 percent of the treated dogs were still living melanoma-free at the conclusion of the study or died of unrelated illness.”