Cutting epoetin alfa sales at a stroke

Preliminary results from a German study suggest that stroke patients' use of anti-anemia drugs such as Aranesp, Procrit and Epogen might end up boosting their risk for death, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned on Friday.

The goal of the study was to see if high doses of the anti-anemia drug epoetin alfa could improve the ability of stroke patients to take care of themselves after recovering from a stroke.

The hope was that the drug would be neuroprotective, but use of epoetin alfa now appears linked to a near-doubling of mortality.

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