Recruiting in Madrid · September 30, 2026
ReachGlio tests a different way to treat canine glioma
A new canine glioma trial has opened in Madrid, and the basic idea behind it is fairly simple: sometimes the problem is not only finding a drug that can damage cancer cells. The problem is getting enough of that drug into the brain tumor in the first place.
Hospital Veterinario Puchol began recruiting dogs for the ReachGlio trial on September 1, 2026. The study is for dogs weighing at least 7 kg with MRI findings consistent with a high-grade glioma. It is testing SNGR-TNF together with temozolomide, a chemotherapy drug used in glioma treatment.
Why getting drugs into glioma is difficult
The brain is protected by the blood-brain barrier, which limits what can pass from the bloodstream into brain tissue.
That is normally useful. In cancer treatment, it can become a problem.
A drug may be capable of killing tumor cells but still have limited effect if too little of it actually reaches the tumor. Gliomas make this more complicated because the barrier is not equally disrupted throughout the whole tumor.
ReachGlio is testing whether SNGR-TNF can temporarily change the tumor blood vessels in a way that allows more temozolomide to reach the glioma.
The study is still exploratory. It is looking at safety, tolerability, pharmacodynamic effects and dosing, rather than starting from the assumption that this combination is already better than existing treatment.
Dogs receive six treatment cycles, 21 days apart, with intravenous treatment at Puchol and oral medication at home. Follow-up includes neurological examinations, blood tests and contrast MRI scans. Study-related treatment, follow-up MRI and laboratory testing are funded through the TRANSCAN-3 project.
Similar problem, different approaches in the U.S.
Johns Hopkins is currently recruiting dogs with suspected glioma for a trial combining radiation therapy with temozolomide.
This approach does not try to change the blood-brain barrier with SNGR-TNF. Instead, it combines two different ways of damaging the tumor: radiation plus chemotherapy. Dogs receive radiation on five consecutive workdays with temozolomide given at the same time. Radiation, chemotherapy, follow-up MRI and blood testing are covered by the study.
UC Davis is taking another approach in its CARE trial.
There, dogs receive standard radiation together with an experimental intravenous drug that blocks autophagy. Autophagy is one of the processes cells can use to survive stress. Cancer cells can use it to withstand treatment.
The idea is therefore different again: instead of improving chemotherapy delivery, researchers are trying to remove one of the tumor cell’s survival mechanisms and make it more vulnerable to radiation. The study is also checking whether the experimental drug actually reaches the brain tumor after being given intravenously.
Why so many glioma trials use combinations
Glioma creates several problems at once.
A treatment has to reach the tumor. It has to damage the cancer cells once it gets there. And those cells may still have ways of surviving that damage.
That is why many current glioma trials are not simply testing one new drug on its own.
ReachGlio is trying to improve access of chemotherapy to the tumor. Johns Hopkins combines chemotherapy with radiation. UC Davis CARE tries to make tumor cells less able to protect themselves from radiation.
Different mechanisms, but essentially the same problem from different directions.
Official trial pages
ReachGlio — Hospital Veterinario Puchol
Johns Hopkins canine glioma trial
UC Davis CARE trial
Check current canine glioma treatment trials in Vet Trial Finder