Jaguar Health, Inc. announced that it has established a new Investigational New Animal Drug (INAD) file with the Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the company's novel plant-based prescription drug crofelemer to treat general, non-infectious diarrhea in dogs. Crofelemer delayed-release tablets, under the name Canalevia-CA1, received conditional approval in December 2021 from the FDA for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced diarrhea (CID) in dogs. Jaguar previously issued results from a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, controlled proof-of-concept study that assessed the efficacy of crofelemer administered orally in alleviating clinical signs associated with secretory diarrhea in dogs.

The study results showed that crofelemer was superior to placebo. Diarrhea is one of the most common reasons for veterinary office visits for dogs and is the second most common reason for visits to the veterinary emergency room, yet there are currently no FDA-approved anti-secretory agents to treat canine diarrhea. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, there were an estimated 83 million to 88 million dogs in the United States in 2020, and 45% of U.S. households owned a dog in 2020.

Devastating dehydration can occur rapidly for the animal, and the lack of control in urban settings where owners don't have easy access to outdoor facilities is a significant problem for families with dogs.