HELP
FOR CANINE URINARY INCONTINENCE
Research
notes provided by Dr. Roberta Lee
QUOTE: PPA gets reprieve
Washington: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) isn’t advertising
it, but veterinarians can buy phenylpropanolamine (PPA) despite a
government-proposed ban of the drug and a recent dry spell in its
manufacture.
The key is finding a pharmaceutical company still making it, says Marsha
Larkins, ombudsman with the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM).
In November, FDA officials announced that PPA, a human-approved drug found
in weight loss aids and nasal decongestants, eventually would be pulled
from the market after a Yale study revealed a link between the drug’s
use and hemorrhage stroke in women. Veterinarians also prescribed the drug
off-label to treat canine urinary incontinence. When FDA officials advised
pharmaceutical companies to discontinue PPA production, DVMs lost PPA
sources.
But it wasn’t long before at least one manufacturer restarted PPA
output. According to Larkins, pharmaceutical companies and DVMs can apply
for regulatory discretion with the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and
Regulation (CDER) to purchase or make PPA for canines. The regulatory
discretion is temporary and will last until CDER bans the drug or
pharmaceutical companies invest in testing PPA as a canine urinary
incontinence treatment and receive FDA approval, she says.
At press time, DVM Newsmagazine learned of one U.S. pharmaceutical company
selling PPA products-PRN Pharmacal. The Pensacola, Fla.-based company has
been allowed to continue marketing the product while its label is being
reviewed, PRN representative Gary Cushing says.
The product is available through most veterinary distributors, but some
compounding pharmacies, which do not fall under FDA guidelines, also are
marketing PPA.
Wedgwood Pharmacy is one such company. Regulated by the New Jersey State
Board of Pharmacy, the compounding pharmaceutical firm sells PPA tablets
and liquid in three strengths, a company spokeswoman explains.
For more details, see the March issue of DVM Newsmagazine.
END QUOTE
The best preventative is DO NOT SPAY OR NEUTER your dog. Among
other serious health risks, urinary incontinence and frequent urination
is predictable as the dog ages.
See
spay &
neuter health risks in the net's most complete information section
on spay/neuter
http://www.thedogplace.org/HEALTH/canine-incontinence.asp
#1112
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