Hope, despair fuel black market for drugs in fatal cat disease

On a Friday in early June, the owner of a kitten in Estonia with feline infectious peritonitis, or FIP, posted a plea to a closed Facebook group: Could anyone in Sweden, Finland, Latvia or Lithuania spare two doses of GS-441524?  Her order of the antiviral compound made in China had been waylaid;  she felt sure her cat would not survive the weekend without it.

A few members scrambled to find surplus vials of "GS" in the region.  But the effort was too late.  Seven hours later, the cat owner posted: "Thank you all for your support.  The heaven[s] have a new beautiful and sweet angel."

Stories like this one are common for the FIP Warriors Facebook group, which until early August called itself FIP Warriors Using GS.  Its members are owners of cats diagnosed with or suspected of having FIP, an atypical and usually deadly immune response to infection by feline coronavirus.  FIP kills around 1.3% of cats worldwide, according to Dr. Niels Pedersen, a respected FIP researcher.  FIP Warriors is not the only FIP-related group on Facebook, but it's the only one to have referenced an unapproved treatment in its name.

The group reflects what is shaping up to be a watershed moment in the fight against this dread condition, which has been considered incurable.  That's changing.  Within the past four years, GS-441524 (patented by Gilead Sciences) and another antiviral agent, GC376 (patented by Kansas State University), have been shown to reverse the progression of FIP in clinical trials involving several dozen infected cats.  The agents interfere with the virus's ability to hijack the body's immune system.


Although neither compound has been approved for commercial use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or any regulatory agencies abroad, reports of cured cats on social media are driving developments beyond the FDA's reach.  In China, where cat ownership and cases of FIP are on the rise, entrepreneurs have begun producing versions of these antivirals.  Over the past year, the compounds have made their way to pet owners around the world via online chemical companies and networks of sellers facilitated by online cat owner groups.  Buyers' stories of cats recovering following treatment add fuel to the market — offering hope and posing risks for owners of FIP-affected cats and creating challenges for veterinarians.

Pedersen, who conducted the GS-441524 trials at the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine, posted an article on websites for the UC Davis Center for Companion Animal Health and SOCK FIP (Save our Cats and Kittens from Feline Infectious Peritonitis) early this year, alerting colleagues about the existence of Chinese-made compounds.

As he sees it, the problem is primarily an issue of patent rights to these compounds, not their efficacy.  "I know that hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of cats with FIP have been treated with non-approved GC376 and GS-441524 … and that many cats have been cured of their infection with no more side effects than we described in our published field trials," Pedersen wrote in an email interview with the VIN News Service.

But that could change tomorrow, he warns.  "Like all black-market drugs, there are bound to be suppliers that are willing to sell drugs that are less than pure or not fully biologically active to desperate consumers.  The only truth is 'caveat emptor' — let the buyers be aware."

Pedersen said he hears from several owners of cats suspected of having FIP every day.  He doesn't advise them about whether to buy the drugs, but he answers questions about his research because he feels "some duty to make sure that these drugs are used properly."

For veterinarians, the current situation poses legal and ethical quandaries.  Recommending or administering the unapproved drugs from such sources could put a veterinarian's license in jeopardy or open them to client complaints if treatment should fail or go wrong.  "It pits doing nothing against our need to provide the best treatments for our patients," Pedersen said.

From VINNEWS Service