Johnson anaemia drugs ‘could make condition worse’

Johnson & Johnson and Amgen have warned doctors that the anaemia drugs Procrit, Epogen and Aranesp could actually worsen the condition.

An alert, published on the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website, informed doctors that the use of the drugs had produced a severe anaemia affect in some patients. The warnings informed doctors that patients who were found to develop pure red cell aplasia should be taken off the treatment immediately.

It added that the drugs should be no longer proscribed to individuals with anti-body mediated anaemia. However, the warnings said that “in accordance with the approved prescribing information, the benefit/risk profile” of each drug continues to be worthwhile.

Meanwhile, research from the European Cancer Anaemia Survey (ECAS) has found that only half of lung cancer patients with anaemia receive appropriate treatment.

The survey discovered that, in 2002 patients with lung cancer, 80 per cent of patients who received platinum-based treatment developed the condition, but only 47 per cent received treatment for anaemia.

Anaemia is common in lung cancer sufferers, and is often the result of radiation and chemotherapy as well as the tumour growth.

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