Anemia Drug May Not Increase Cancer Survival

The anti-anemia drug erythropoietin may reduce the need for blood transfusions and improve blood health in cancer patients, but there's no conclusive evidence that it prolongs their lives, a new study finds. Anemia is a common complication among cancer patients. Some researchers have suggested that using human erythropoietin (also called epoetin, and sold under the brand names Epogen and Procrit) to reduce anemia may improve tumor response and cancer patient survival. Reporting in the April 6 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, researchers at the University of Cologne analyzed 27 studies published between 1993 and 2002. Each of the studies compared erythropoietin treatment to no treatment in a total of nearly 3,300 adult cancer patients.