ZenByCat has updated our position on the use of these drugs.   Please see this post: Why ZenByCat now supports the use of black market drugs to fight FIPWhy ZenByCat now supports the use of black market drugs to fight FIP

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Why I believe people should NOT purchase GC376 or GS4441524 (also known as EV0984).

The anti-viral protease inhibitor GC376 was used in the first of two trials conducted at UC Davis and 5 out of 20 FIP kittens were put into long term remission.   A second trial was done with GS4441524 (also an anti-viral but interrupts the FIP at a different stage)  and had even greater success.   These two drugs are now in the long and torturous process of getting approval, both from the government and from the drug companies that have to agree to produce the drugs.   Sadly, because the researchers had released the chemical formulas for these drugs at the beginning of their study, several Chinese companies have begun selling knockoff versions online.   This is irresponsible and should be criminal.  Not only is the purity and efficacy not known, but researchers believe that the process being used to manufacture these drugs renders them ineffective.   That is, they may be chemically correct but will not be active against FIP.   Further , and not insignificantly, there is no researched based dosing information to go with these drugs.   It is exactly like going to a hospital and buying a very potent and expensive cancer drug and then having to figure out how much and how often to administer the drug.  All outcomes will end in death or worse, increase the suffering of a sick FIP cat.  Lastly, all these failures of the knock-off drugs could give the real drugs a bad reputation and derail the release of the actual drugs.  For all these reasons, I do not believe buying these expensive knock off drugs is safe or effective and strongly urge people to resist this false promise.

I totally understand the heartbreak and the screaming voice inside saying "do something!".   We at ZenByCat and many others are working hard to raise funds to help get these and other promising drugs to market as fast as possible.   Until that day, the sad reality is FIP remains a fatal disease with only palliative treatments that may extend life but will not cure FIP.   Respectfully

peter

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