Anemia in the News

A recent article published in The New England Journal of Medicine concluded that the use of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents to treat patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease did not reduce the risk of mortality, cardiovascular events or end stage renal disease, but did however result in an increased risk of stroke compared with placebo.   [ Read More ]

Changes were recently made to the prescribing information for the drug Dexferrum®, an iron dextran injection used to treat iron deficiency anemia. The changes emphasize the warning about the risk of anaphylactic-type reactions and precautionary measures to mitigate the risk.   [ Read More ]

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has scheduled a meeting of the Medicare Evidence Development & Coverage Advisory Committee on March 24, 2010 to review evidence on the use of erythropoiesis stimulating agents to manage anemia in patients with chronic kidney disease.   [ Read More ]

Anemia in very elderly people appears to be associated with an increased risk of death, according to a recent study from the Netherlands, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Results from this study indicate that elderly people who were anemic at age 85 had a 41% increased risk of death, regardless of the presence of other diseases.   [ Read More ]

The Food and Drug Administration approved the market release of ferumoxytol, an intravenous iron therapy to treat iron deficiency in adult patients with chronic kidney disease either on or off dialysis. Ferumoxytol will be marketed under the name Feraheme^TM and will be distributed starting the second half of July 2009.   [ Read More ]

A recent article published in The Lancet concluded that the use of erythropoiesis-stimulated agents (ESAs) increased mortality and worsened overall survival for treatment of cancer patients with anemia.   [ Read More ]

An abstract presented December 6th at the American Society of Hematology’s Annual Meeting showed that treating anemia with erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) increased mortality and decreased the overall survival of cancer patients. These results confirmed previous data suggesting ESAs may negatively affect the overall health of these patients.   [ Read More ]

The prevalence of anemia among American women and children has declined significantly, according to a recent report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which was published in the December issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Results from the report indicate that anemia in women declined from 10.8% to 6.9% and that anemia in children declined by more than half, from 8.0% to 3.6%. Folate deficiency in women also declined from 4.1% to 0.5%.   [ Read More ]

According to a recent study by Finkelstein et al, preventing anemia by maintaining hemoglobin levels is important to the health and well-being of patients with chronic kidney disease. Their findings have implications for when treatment with anemia drugs, called erythropoiesis-stimulating agents, should be initiated and what the target hemoglobin level should be.   [ Read More ]

The FDA has reported that early data from a clinical trial in Germany investigating the use of epoetin alfa treatment in patients with ischemic stroke showed excess 90-day mortality. Preliminary safety findings revealed that 16% of those treated died within 90 days compared with 9% in the placebo group.   [ Read More ]

The American Society of Hematology (ASH) announced the launch of Blood: The Vital Connection, their new public education campaign to raise awareness of common blood conditions. The program showcases the important role of blood in overall health and provides resources for both healthcare professionals and consumers.   [ Read More ]

Pharmaceutical manufacturers Affymax and Takeda announced they will suspend co-development of Hematide™ to treat chemotherapy-induced anemia and focus all efforts on developing the erythropoiesis-stimulating agent for treatment of anemia associated with chronic kidney disease.   [ Read More ]

A deeper understanding of how iron is moved among cells in your body may allow doctors to quickly find out what is causing anemia or other iron-related imbalances.   [ Read More ]

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered specific changes for the use of erythropoeisis-stimulating agents (ESAs) to treat anemia in patients receiving chemotherapy.   [ Read More ]

Two clinical trials testing the combination therapy of Avastin and Sutent found to cause microangiopathic hemolytic anemia in a considerable percentage of patients, causing Genentech, the manufacturer to discontinue the studies.   [ Read More ]

European Regulators Adjust Epoetin Drug Recommendations for Cancer Patients   [ Read More ]

FDA Advisory Committee to Discuss Anemia Drug Risks March 13th   [ Read More ]

New Anemia Guidelines for IBD Patients Released   [ Read More ]

Mixed Results Treating the Critically Ill with Erythropoietin   [ Read More ]

National Kidney Foundation anemia guideline update   [ Read More ]

U.S. Senate Calls for Reevaluation of CMS Anemia Drug Reimbursement Policy   [ Read More ]

Cancer Association Asks Medicare to Reopen Anemia Drug Reimbursement Policy   [ Read More ]

Advisory Panel Addressed Anemia Treatment for Kidney Disease Patients   [ Read More ]