Family Life

11.11.09 | FL News Team

A certain type of medication used for cancer patients to cut the risk of anemia may do more harm than good. A ten-year study has found cancer patients taking the drugs were at double the risk of dangerous blood clots in their lungs or legs. The drugs are marketed under the names Epogen by Amgen and Procrit by Johnson & Johnson. The potions stimulate bone marrow to increase the production of red blood cells helping to reduce the number of blood transfusions needed during chemotherapy. Researchers at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center say despite a tenfold increase in use of the drugs through the 90's, blood transfusion rates among patients remained steady. The study involved more than 55-thousand cancer patients. Details are in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

An earlier study of Epogen and Procrit done by Johnson & Johnson found a higher risk of death and cardiovascular complications among patients being aggressively treated with the medicine. In 2007, the FDA issued a requirement that a strong warning accompany the drugs use and suggested limiting use only to patients with specific types of cancers and with especially low red blood counts. Despite the studies and warnings both drugs are still widely used. Between 2006 and 2008 Procrit sales reached nearly two-and-a-half-billion dollars.