High doses of anaemia drug could be fatal

High doses of an anaemia drug used by kidney patients could be fatal, causing heart diseases and stroke, say new clinical studies.

Epoetin alfa, a drug often prescribed to treat anaemia in chronic kidney disease patients, has been shown to cause higher risk of death, heart failure, heart attack and stroke when taken in high doses, reported health magazine WebMD.

People with chronic kidney disease often suffer from anaemia. Anaemia has been linked to increased risk of heart disease complications and related death in people suffering from chronic kidney disease.

Epoetin alfa helps raise red blood cell levels back to normal.

Amgen sells the drug as Epogen and Johnson & Johnson as Procrit. Amgen also makes a similar drug, darbepoetin alfa, sold as Aranesp. Another similar drug, epoetin beta, is sold in Europe as NeoRecormon by Roche.

Researchers conducted a 16-month study on 1,432 patients and found that those whose red blood cell count was normalised with high doses of epoetin alfa have a 34 percent higher risk of death, heart attack, and stroke than patients who take lower doses.

Another study showed that when epoetin is used to normalise red blood cell counts in kidney patients, it does not reduce their risk of heart disease or stroke compared with patients who take lower doses.

Both studies appear in the Nov 16 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

Either way, the trials seem likely to put an end to routine, high-dose epoetin treatment in kidney patients.