Safer and more effective therapy in dogs suffering from confirmed atopic dermatitis will be possible thanks to a new drug being developed by scientists at the University of Life Sciences in Wrocław (UPWr). The drug is expected to act on both the symptoms and the cause of the disease.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is the most common allergic skin disease in dogs. It already affects almost every third pet in Poland. The disease has a genetic basis and presents with symptoms of inflammation and itching. The most common environmental allergens are mites. It is assumed that dogs living in their owners’ homes are more exposed to these allergens (the bedroom and kitchen are places with an increased concentration of mites) than, for example, dogs kept in outdoor pens. Other allergens include tree, grass or weed pollen and moulds.

Labradors and golden retrievers, as well as terriers and boxers, are most prone to AD. No sex predilection is observed, but the age of the animal at which the first dermatological symptoms (typically erythema and pruritus) plays an important role. It is accepted that symptoms must appear before the dog is 3 years old to qualify for this diagnosis.

Today, veterinarians have drugs at their disposal that act only symptomatically. Such therapy does not have long-lasting effects and their chronic use increases the risk of side effects. Researchers from UPWr have an opportunity to change this. A new drug for AD is undergoing clinical trials in the Department of Internal Medicine with the Canine and Feline Clinic. It has both symptomatic and causal effects.

Dogs with confirmed atopic dermatitis, which their owners have submitted for the trial, are given the new drug intravenously. Those dogs are observed by veterinarians and examined for a further three months to determine whether and at what rate the skin lesions and itching disappear. The results will be known in the second half of 2023.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński