Hi Natasha.  I plan to enroll Griffin in the Yale clinical trial once he finishes chemotherapy (there is a 3 week washout period).  I'm not sure where you live, but I'm close enough to travel to Yale, so the costs will be limited to several office visits.  Otherwise, it is $1,000 to have the vaccine sent to your local vet, plus the cost of office visits, blood draws, and sending the samples back to Yale.  Griffin completed 3 rounds of carboplatin chemo before a chest x-ray revealed a lung met.  We switched over to doxorubicin and he has completed 2 rounds.  Prior to his next round, we'll repeat the chest x-rays.  I've been discussing options with Griffin's oncologist in case the repeat x-rays show that the doxorubicin is not having a positive effect, and the one she is most excited about is the Yale vaccine.  Metronomic chemotherapy is permitted concurrently with the administration of the vaccine.  I emailed Dr. Mark Mamula, the lead for the trial, on April 24th to generally inquire about the trial and I've pasted his reply below.  I hope this is helpful! ~ Stacy (Griffin's Journey)

Thank you for your interest in our cancer vaccine program and I’m sorry to hear about Griffin.  Yes, we do have a phase II canine clinical trial in progress, now in about 200 dogs.  The vaccine is designed to trigger immune responses against tumor proteins, notably EGFR and HER2.  These proteins are found on various tumor types, including osteosarcoma and other tumor types.  We have had some ‘patients’ with very good outcome, though we can’t obviously guarantee that for every patient.  Much of the outcome depends on other factors such as age, tumor type, extent of disease, and probably many other factors that we do not yet fully understand.  I have approval to deliver the vaccine to your local Vet to administer.  It would be useful, but not essential, to have some of the relevant records for Griffin, particularly any tumor pathology reports or imaging (X-rays, etc. if available).  

The vaccine program consists of two vaccinations separated by 3 weeks.  Three samples of blood will be obtained.  Details are sent to the veterinarian with administration details.  If Griffin is, or will be on chemotherapy (often carboplatin), you will need to wait 3 weeks after the last cycle before beginning the vaccination.  I can directly answer any question from Veterinarians regarding the therapy.

The Yale University School of Medicine has additional websites with information about our cancer vaccine program:

https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/21964/

https://medicine.yale.edu/intmed/raci/rheumatology/research/caninecancer/

We do not charge for the vaccine or laboratory analysis only if your pet is seen at our local clinic in Connecticut.  Unfortunately, we have received an overwhelming number of requests through social media and we now ask outside patients for a $1000 donation (total for both vaccinations and our analysis throughout your pet’s lifetime).  The donation can be made by credit card to:  

https://secure.yale.imodules.com/s/1667/giving/17/form.aspx?sid=1667&gid=52&pgid=1815&cid=5628&dids=522

I do not receive income from this project, it completely supports this project exclusively.  You would also be responsible for any ancillary costs of administering two vaccinations by your personal Vet and express mailing to my laboratory (it is a simple subcutaneous injection, like any other canine vaccination).  My yellow lab passed away about 7 years ago from an inoperable tumor (her picture is on our Yale Canine Cancer Vaccine facebook site).  This is a project I have significant professional and personal interest in moving forward.  In addition, I’ve attached a recent medical publication from my laboratory describing the strategy as was first performed in mouse cancer models (you can pass this along to your vet).  The strategy in canine cancer is very similar and we are presently submitting canine data for publication.   

   If you decide to move forward with the vaccine program, we will need the following:

1. Signed consent form (attached form; and co-signed by your vet’s office).
2. Veterinarian Name, Address, Phone, and email address.
3. Date that your veterinarian will need the vaccine delivered.
4. Tax deductible $1000 donation to the website listed above.