UNLEASHED

Drug Designed to Make Dogs Live Longer Takes Major Leap Forward

The company making the drug hopes it will give pets at least one year of extra healthy life.

A drug hoped to extend dogs’ lifespans took a step toward becoming a reality after clearing a significant regulatory hurdle with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a biotech company announced Tuesday. “The data you provided are sufficient to show that there is a reasonable expectation of effectiveness,” an FDA official told Loyal for Dogs in a letter seen by The New York Times. That means the drug has cleared one of the requirements needed for the type of approval that would allow the treatment to be given to pets, which Loyal hopes to ultimately get in 2026. “We’re going to be going for claiming at least one year of healthy life span extension,” Loyal founder Celine Halioua told the Times. It’s not yet clear if the drug will successfully be able to lengthen dogs’ lives. “Nothing we are developing could make a dog live forever,” Halioua added.