Anti-Anemia Drugs: B12 is Better, Safer

Anemia is interesting.  I wonder if Big PhRMA can even make up its mind over people's health first or profit.

My interest in Procrit goes back to about 2002 when I was working with a man who was taking this drug.  At that time the cost was $1200 a dose.  With his open-minded MD he was able to switch to B12 shots and natural thyroid support, reduce his costs, and greatly improve his anemia, and his health.

Working as I do from time to time with people who experience serious anemic states because of their health condition or prescribed drugs, I have to stand on the side AGAINST the anemia drugs, regardless of health condition.

I do not agree that a risk of cancer is a green light for reliance on any drug.

Just like the CPR controversy, I guess anti-anemia drugs are now in that same genre.

FDA panel backs anemia drugs for kidney disease

By MATTHEW PERRONE, AP Health Writer Oct18

ADELPHI, Md. – Federal health advisers said Monday that patients with failing kidneys should continue taking a group of widely used anemia drugs, despite a recent study showing they can increase the risk of stroke.
A panel of Food and Drug Administration experts voted 15-1, with one abstention, to maintain the drugs' approval for patients with chronic kidney disease who are not yet sick enough to receive dialysis. The FDA is not required to follow the group's advice, though it often does.
The medicines — Procrit, Aranesp and Epogen — are multibillion-dollar sellers because of their ability to boost oxygen-carrying red blood cells, reducing the need for painful blood transfusions. But sales have fallen sharply since 2007, when the FDA added the first of several safety warnings to the drugs, based on evidence they can cause tumor growth and hasten death in cancer patients. The drugs are no longer used in patients with several types of cancers.
The FDA is reviewing the medications from biotech drugmaker Amgen Inc. after a study published last year that showed patients with kidney disease who were taking the drugs were twice as likely to experience stroke compared with those taking a dummy treatment. The goal of the study was to show that higher doses of the drug could prevent heart attack, stroke and other heart-related problems, as had been assumed for years.
Doctors adjust their patients' drug doses to maintain healthy levels of hemoglobin, a component of blood that carries oxygen and keeps anemia patients active. Anemia causes weakness and shortness of breath and is a side effect of chemotherapy and kidney failure.
Current labeling on the drugs recommends keeping patients' hemoglobin levels between 10 grams and 12 grams per deciliter. The FDA asked its panelists whether the recommendation should be reduced to target 9 grams per deciliter. But a majority of panelists sided against that proposal in a vote of 9-5 with three abstentions. The experts said they worried patients would suffer more incidents of anemia and require more blood transfusions if lower doses were recommended. They said doctors should manage patients based on their individual health and disease history.
Panelists said additional studies are needed to find the ideal drug dosage for kidney disease patients.
"The label should be adjusted, but I just don't think we have enough information to recommend a fixed dose," said Dr. Judith Hochman of the New York University School of Medicine.
Amgen, based in California, makes all three drugs. Procrit is sold by Johnson & Johnson's Centocor Ortho Biotech division, under a long-standing agreement between the companies.
Last year the drugs — known as erythropoiesis stimulating agents — had combined sales of $6.3 billion, according to health data firm IMS Health.

Don't Curb, Pull Drug Ads
May 21, 2008
The committee also probed ads for Johnson & Johnson's anemia drug Procrit. At the hearing, Stupak called on the companies to rein in their campaigns or face tighter restriction and possibly an advertisement ban.
Co-Pay Comments
Apr 15, 2008
Procrit $1024 / 6 vials depending on dose Neupogen $4700 / 10 prefilled syringes depending on dose Actimmune (Gamma interferon B1) $600-900 + per dose Cerezyme, Fabrazyme $200000 annually, for life. A GMO drug, not unlike most on this ...