But don't we all take supplements that are not drugs, and are not approved
by FDA (which really doesn't mean much - my husband worked for Pfizer his
whole life, I now the inside dope.). My vet has had some very good results
with it. Since the 90s, the FDA has made it worse for any vitamin companies
to even mention what certain vitamins are good for (as they used to). Now,
when we buy vitamins, we have to learn ourselves what which is good for.
Just recently, Senator Durbin was attempting to screw around with vitamins
.didn't succeed! This is not going to deter me from using RenAvast - it
certainly won't hurt the cat(s). If it helps - great, if it doesn't,
nothing lost.
From: felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org
[mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of Kat Parker
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2012 1:01 AM
To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] rENaVAST (FROM tANYA'AS crf SITE)
RenAvast (FROM tANYA'S SITE)
_
http://renavast.com RenAvast was launched in the USA in summer 2011 and
contains something called Avastamine (AB070597). Avastamine is said to
consist of naturally occurring biomolecules, which apparently means it is
a proprietary mix of seven specific amino acids or peptides, though they do
not state which ones.
Amino acids are the components of protein. Peptides are the molecules formed
when two or more amino acids are joined together. There are 23 amino acids
which cats need, and they can manufacture twelve of these themselves, but
the other eleven must be obtained from food.
http://www.felinecrf.org/nutritional_requirements.htm#taurine Taurine is
one example of an amino acid which cats must obtain from food.
http://www.vetmed.vt.edu/vth/sa/clin/cp_handouts/Nutrition_Adult_Cat.pdf
Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine explains more
about cats and amino acids.
RenAvast is marketed as a dietary supplement. Dietary supplements do not
need US Food and Drug Administration approval but the manufacturers make the
bold claims that RenAvast can halt the progression of chronic renal failure
in cats and that unlike other products and drugs, RenAvast does not treat
the symptoms of renal failure, it treats the cause. The
http://www.fda.gov/Food/DietarySupplements/ConsumerInformation/ucm110417.ht
m#regulate FDA states that a product sold as a dietary supplement and
promoted on its label or in labeling as a treatment, prevention or cure for
a specific disease or condition would be considered an unapproved - and thus
illegal - drug.
RenAvast is being widely promoted online. The marketing literature for
RenAvast focuses heavily on a study published online by the manufacturers
(rather than in a veterinary journal),
http://adminpilot.s3.amazonaws.com/renavast/files/2011/07/renavast-pdf.pdf
AB070597 and its effect on declining renal function in felines (2007) Archer
J, published online. This reports on 19 cats who were given RenAvast over a
two year period. Cats joined and left the study during this period so it is
not known over how long a period the results for individual cats were
measured. No cats in the trial were on sub-Q fluids or a prescription diet,
but it is not known if they were receiving other treatments such as
phosphorus binders or Azodyl. Many of the cats were in early stage CKD
(Stage 2 of IRIS), and it is not uncommon for cats in this stage to survive
for years.
An unrelated study, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9918157 Plasma
amino acid profiles in cats with naturally acquired chronic renal failure
(1999) Goldstein RE, Marks SL, Cowgill LD, Kass PH Rogers QR American
Journal of Veterinary Research 60(1) pp109-13, found that CKD cats in all
stages of the disease had lower levels of amino acids than healthy cats.
However, they concluded the magnitude of these changes is mild and of
little clinical relevance. This is an older study, and it might eventually
be shown that supplementary amino acids are in fact helpful to CKD cats, but
currently there is no evidence that RenAvast is the miracle cure it claims
to be.
What do I think of RenAvast? My hunch is that RenAvast contains widely
available and inexpensive unpatented amino acids packaged together and
subjected to some clever marketing. If it only contains amino acids and
peptides, it is probably not going to do any harm, but without knowing
exactly what it contains, I cannot say for sure. It might be a good product,
it might not, but it is unlikely to be as effective as its manufacturers
claim, and it is certainly not cheap at over US$30 a month.
Based on the information currently available, I would save my money and put
it towards more proven treatments than RenAvast.
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