HOLDEN, Mo. (KCTV/Gray News) – For many Americans, their pets are their family. So when pets become ill, the best care for them possible is wanted.
Librela is a popular drug for dogs that promises to ease pain from canine osteoarthritis.
According to the drug’s maker Zoetis, Librela has been used to treat more than a million dogs in the United States.
Some call Librela a wonder drug, but others say it is anything but that.
Some pet owners are now sounding the alarm about Librela as veterinarians across the country continue to prescribe it.
Rich Pearson lives in Holden, Missouri. He’s also the owner of four happy hounds, all full of energy and ready to play. However, he said he used to have five dogs.
Rigby was a rescue pup Pearson and his wife adopted in 2018.
“Rigby was a border collie, kind of a border collie mix,” he said.
He said he and his wife were in love with the dog from the very beginning.
“He fit in immediately,” Pearson said. “He was just so happy at all times, just to be around people. That was his favorite thing.”
In November 2024, at 6 years old, Rigby began to struggle with hip dysplasia, leading the Pearsons to turn to their veterinarian for care options.
“Our vet told us about a new drug, which has been branded and still is branded almost as this wonder drug Librela,” Pearson said. “So we thought, OK, you know, this could be an opportunity for him to live the last, you know, six plus, ten plus years of his life.”
Librela was launched in the U.S. in 2023. It is given once a month and works to block and control nerve growth, control pain and improve mobility.
After researching and reviewing drug trial reports, the Pearsons gave Rigby his first dose.
“It was, over the span of a few days, he started to get a rash, and he didn’t have a great appetite,” Pearson said.
The veterinarian told Pearson to give the drug a full month, but as the days went on, Rigby quickly deteriorated.
“He had stopped eating completely, stopped drinking water,” Pearson said.
Before Pearson knew it, it was over. In just 10 days, he lost his companion of six years.
“We had to put him down at one in the morning,” Pearson said.
Three months after Rigby’s death, a warning came from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration about “adverse events” reported in dogs treated with Librela.
According to the FDA, 3,674 dogs experienced reports of “adverse reactions” as of April 2024. Of that number, a total of 458 have died.
“It’s real, it was a shock,” Pearson said.
KCTV sat down with Dr. Sam Franklin, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon with Kansas City Canine Orthopedics, and asked if he finds the concerns about Librela to be legitimate.
“My suspicion is that the concerns are probably founded and that the FDA issued its letter based upon enough reports,” Franklin said. “I also suspect that the manufacturer might point out that, ‘Hey, there have been tens of millions of doses prescribed for dogs in the United States and Europe, if these complications were very frequent and severe, we would have recognized or heard of them sooner.‘”
Franklin suggested that before using Librela, pet owners should ask three questions:
- What is the specific diagnosis?
- “Investigate why your dog is developing the osteoarthritis and try and figure out what the underlying explanation or diagnosis is,” Franklin said. “Knowing the details of the joint and the condition is relevant to whether or not Librela’s going to be one of the treatments that’s potentially used to treat the pain associated with the osteoarthritis.”
- What are the alternatives?
- “There are many nonsurgical management options, and my top choices are weight loss, moderate daily activity, optimal diet, oral NSAIDs, and potentially injections into the joint,” Franklin said.
- Did they work or not work?
- “Work to get a diagnosis to fully understand what it is that is ailing your dog and what your numerous options are for managing that,” Franklin said. “Then you want to weigh the pros and cons and then concerns/risks associated with Librela.”
When asked whether he believes the drug is safe to use, Franklin said the answer isn’t as clear one way or the other.
“I can’t say, ‘Yes, it’s safe,’ but that’s true of just about everything. There is risk with absolutely everything,” Franklin said.
Pearson is convinced that risk is what took Rigby away. Asked if he would make the same choice to give Rigby the drug again, “The answer is a resounding ‘No,‘” he responded. “I would have traded that decision to just have him here and be with us, and be present, be sitting at my feet, but he’s not.”
Zoetis even offered to compensate Pearson.
“They had called and said, ‘Well, we’ll pay for your vet bill, but you can’t talk about it and you have to sign this NDA (non-disclosure agreement),‘” Pearson said.
Pearson did not sign it and has plenty to say.
“We don’t have kids, this is our family, this is what we’ve built on,” he said. “For us, there’s no amount of money that would be able to reflect or replace the opportunity to save lives.”
Zoetis said it remains “confident in the safety and effectiveness of Librela” but did not have a response to those who have lost their pets using Librela, like Pearson.
In February, Librela’s label was updated to include some adverse reactions following the FDA’s warning.
Pearson is now part of a class action lawsuit against Librela.
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