Julia Trost

IR I/2/10 GT
11/19/19
Interviewer:​Julia Trost
Interviewee:​Dr. Niels Pedersen, PhD, DMV, professor at the University of California Davis.
Interview Setting: ​Conducted over email on Tuesday, November 19th from 2:30-2:45 pm.
Affiliations with Interviewee: ​Advisor for interviewer
(Start of Interview)
Interviewer: Why is the current treatment that is being experimented on, GS-441524,
considered more effective than GC376?

Interviewee: GS-441524 appears to inhibit virus replication at a much earlier stage in its life
cycle and gets into the eyes and brain much more efficiently. Field trials of both drugs also
indicate that cats treated with GS-441524 have a much higher cure rate than cats treated with
GC376.

Interviewer: What is your take on owners turning to the black market to buy drugs with
the hopes of curing their cat?

Interviewee: We reported on the successful cure of cats with FIP using GC-376 in 2018 and
GS-441524 in 2019. The normal time to get approval from the FDA and get it on the market for
a drug is 2-5 years. Owners of cats with FIP could not, and would not, wait this long and Chinese
companies saw a need to market them right away.

Interviewer: When do you believe a treatment will be available to the public in the United
States? What will this treatment look like?

Interviewee: The estimate is 2-3 years for GC-376 and until the company that developed
GS-441524 decides to grant animal rights, the estimate is much longer, if even.

Interviewer: Genetics accounts for 50% of this disease. Are pedigreed cats or non
pedigreed cats at risk?

Interviewee: The heritable component in pedigreed cats has estimated to be 50%. Other studies
have shown pedigreed cats to be three times more apt to develop FIP than random bred cats.

Interviewer: Why is this?

Interviewee:​ ​We do not know the effect of genetics in random bred cats, but it is probably less
than that of pedigreed cats.
Interviewer: Why is the neurological form, or dry form of FIP harder to treat than the wet
form?

Interviewee:​ ​You need to read the attachment above. Many drugs find it difficult to cross from
the blood to the cerebrospinal fluid by what is known as the blood/brain barrier.

Interviewer: Thank you so much for your time and feedback.

Reflection

From my interview, I was able to learn new ideas and thoughts that are otherwise not

available to the public. Since my advisor has experimented with the treatments in clinical trials

firsthand, he gave me important information on when he expects the treatments to be released to

the public. The questions that I created served to gather all of the information that I was

expecting from my advisor. Next time, I want to have an interview face to face, or on the phone

instead of by email. This will allow me to ask additional questions and talk more to my advisor

about his personal life, and how exactly his job works. Unfortunately, I was supposed to watch a

webinar on the 2019 FIP Symposium, which my advisor was participating in, at UC Davis. I was

very excited to tune in, but the organization in charge of the webinar messed up and didn’t give

me the access code so as a result I couldn’t join. I was supposed to see my advisor face to face,

and ask questions in the webinar, but I couldn’t because of this, explaining why I needed to

arrange an interview over email. However, I have learned a lesson from this: do not attend

webinars for interviews. The interview was easy to set up, as my advisor responded within a day.

The preparation process came easily to me, as I already had numerous questions that came up

during my research that I knew I wanted to ask my advisor. Overall, I received highly beneficial

responses from my advisor. Next time, I hope to talk to him over the phone or through facetime.