US DOCTORS have been warned to go easy when prescribing drugs used to treat anaemia. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is changing the labelling to discourage 鈥渙ff-label鈥� prescribing.
Versions of the hormone erythropoietin, which boosts the production of red blood cells, are approved to treat the anaemia that can occur as a side-effect of cancer chemotherapy or in patients with kidney failure.
Rather than just giving a minimum dose to avoid blood transfusions, as recommended, some US doctors use erythropoietin at higher doses to cure anaemia. High doses can cause heart attacks or stroke, however, and even encourage tumour growth in people with head or neck cancers.
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The drug makers, Amgen of Thousand Oaks, California, and Ortho Biotech of Bridgewater, New Jersey, must now print a warning against high-dose use in a prominent black-outlined box on the label. Such 鈥渂lack box鈥� warnings are the strongest the FDA can demand.
鈥淪uch prominent black box warnings are the strongest the FDA can demand鈥�
