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Associated Press FDA Issues New Warnings for Doctors to More Carefully Prescribe Widely Used Anemia Drugs WASHINGTON - Federal health officials issued stern new warnings Friday for doctors to more carefully prescribe widely used anemia drugs that can increase the risk of death and other serious problems in patients with cancer and kidney disease. At issue are drugs sold under the brand names Procrit, Epogen and Aranesp. These drugs are genetically engineered versions of a natural protein, erythropoietin, that increases the number of red blood cells. Anemia is common with certain forms of kidney disease, especially once a patient is...

An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration said yesterday that more study would be needed to determine whether Amgen's and Johnson & Johnson's widely used anemia drugs for cancer patients can actually make their cancer worse. But the committee did not discuss placing any restrictions on the use of the drugs or additional warnings on their labels. Johnson & Johnson's Procrit and Amgen's Aranesp are used to treat the anemia caused by chemotherapy. The products are among the best-selling drugs in the world, with annual sales of several billion dollars. Concerns about the drugs' safety arose last year...