What is Librela?

Librela (Beransa) is a veterinary drug designed to help manage pain in dogs diagnosed with osteoarthritis. It belongs to a class of medications called monoclonal antibodies (mABs), which in the case of Librela is bedinvetmab.

Librela, in the form of synthetically engineered mABs (bedinvetmab), bind to a protein molecule called nerve growth factor (NGF) responsible for many neurological and immune functions, including pain signaling. Through monthly injections of Librela, these anti-NGF mABs block NGF which may reduce the perception of pain in some dogs with osteoarthritis.

While concentration of nerve growth factor (NGF), the protein that signals pain, may appear in higher concentrations in a dog's arthritic joints, NGF also appears throughout the entire body where it plays a critical role in regulating immune response and nervous system function. Once Librela is introduced into the body, in its effort to block NGF, it can disrupt critical bodily functions causing serious adverse reactions that can be life threatening.