Washington ? The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first drug made specifically to treat cancer in dogs.

Until now, all cancer drugs used in veterinary medicine were developed for use in humans and weren’t specifically approved for animals.

The new drug, Palladia, manufactured by Pfizer Animal Health Inc., has been approved to treat a type of cancer — canine cutaneous mast cell tumors — that accounts for about one in five cases of canine skin tumors.

“This cancer drug approval for dogs is an important step forward for veterinary medicine,” Bernadette Dunham, director of FDA’s center for veterinary medicine, said.

“Prior to this approval, veterinarians had to rely on human oncology drugs, without knowledge of how safe or effective they would be for dogs,” Dunham said.