The UK’s FIP Advice Team has released new antiviral drug treatment guidelines for feline infectious peritonitis (FIP).

A major change is introduction of twice daily dosing of oral GS-441524, based on the observation that inter-cat variations in drug absorption and metabolism might account for some of the treatment failures that are seen with once daily dosing.

There’s also more emphasis on using oral GS-441524 as the sole treatment, without an initial injectable course of remdesivir. Combination therapy (starting with injectable remdesivir and then transitioning to oral GS-441524) should be reserved for cases where the cat is critically ill and there’s reasonable concern that the cat will not absorb oral medications well.

The new information for veterinarians and pet owners will be online soon, and I’ll post an update here when it’s available (currently I just have is the pdfs, but this platform isn’t as good for sharing those).

And finally a little reminder from the Canadian perspective:

• Canadian veterinarians who have access to our Dropbox with the guidance for the Emergency Drug Release (EDR) process to access remdesivir and GS-441524: the treatment guidance document in the folder has been updated accordingly.
• Canadian veterinarians looking for access to these guidance documents: email me or contact me through the Worms & Germs Blog contact link at the top of the page.
• Canadian cat owners: these drugs for treating FIP can only be legally imported by veterinarians. If you have a cat with FIP, discuss the treatment options with your veterinarian, but there is no longer any need to resort to questionable black market drugs for your cat.