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Pet owners urged stronger warnings and consent around Librela after reported adverse events; board received public comment
Summary
A public commenter told the Veterinary Medical Board that his dog died after receiving Librela and urged the state to require veterinarians to provide written adverse‑reaction information before administering the drug; commenters cited rising adverse‑event counts and urged restrictions or a state ban.
During public comment on Jan. 14 the Veterinary Medical Board received a written submission and live comment urging stronger owner notification and consent for Librela, an injectable monoclonal antibody product for osteoarthritis pain in dogs.
What the public said
Steve Mayo (written comment read into the record) described losing a family dog and said he discovered veterinary medical records after the dog’s death that showed treatment and medication entries he had not been told about. He urged the board to require practices to inform pet owners in writing about the existence of medical records and specifically asked the board to require veterinary practices to provide written notice that pet owners may request the records.
Another public commenter, Deb Zimmerlin, told the board she believes her dog died after three Librela injections and cited open‑source adverse-event counts that she said rose from 22,000 to more than 24,000 over a short period. She urged the board to ban Librela in California pending further safety review and said owners and veterinarians should be required to sign informed-consent statements listing adverse reactions.
Board response and context
Board staff noted that federal and manufacturer reporting systems collect adverse-event data and that formal causality assessments are complex; the board did not take immediate regulatory action during the meeting. Commenters asked the board to require veterinarians to give owners written notices about records and adverse effects and to require signed informed consent; the board recorded the requests and will consider next steps within complaint‑handling and rulemaking processes if warranted.
Provenance (excerpt from meeting transcript): - Written comment read into record by staff: "We did receive a written public comment that I'd like to read into the record..." (Steve Mayo). - Live public comment: "I really need to have a public comment on the use of Librela with animals in the state of California... My dog died after 3 injections with Librela..." (Deb Zimmerlin).
