Anemia drugs cost taxpayers billions, but benefits were overstated, deadly effects overlooked
For years, a trio of anemia drugs known as Epogen, Procrit and Aranesp ranked among the best-selling prescription drugs in the United States, generating more than $8 billion a year for two companies, Amgen and Johnson & Johnson. But a Washington Post investigation shows that the benefits of the drugs — including “life satisfaction and happiness,” according to the FDA-approved label — had to be retracted and that potentially lethal side effects, such as cancer and strokes, were overlooked. Millions of patients were subjected to dangerous doses that might have had little advantage.

The multibillion-dollar rise and fall of the anemia drugs illustrates how the economic incentives embedded in U.S. health care can make the system not only inefficient, but potentially deadly. Through a well-funded research and lobbying campaign, the drugmakers won far-reaching approvals from the FDA. Doses tripled in size. The pharmaceutical companies conducted trials that missed the dangers and touted benefits that years later would be deemed unproven. The companies took more than a decade to fulfill their research commitments. And when bureaucrats tried to rein in the largest doses, a high-powered lobbying effort began until Congress forced the regulators to let the drugs flow.


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http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/e....

looks like the Class Action Lawyers are going to have a busy second half of the year...Drug Companies, LIEBOR...

Kill them all.

PAC's and payola.......get out of jail free.

Way overstated. These meds and their counterpart for white blood cells generation neupogen were/are a miracle for cancer patients, dialysis patients and others. No question there was some inappropriate use as well, but the majority imo were used appropriately and truly benefited people.

I have a great business idea.

I will create a compnay that will produce three things -

1 - Rope
2 - Mobile hanging platforms
3 - Hangman covers that go cover the head of the man who pulls the lever.

I need to call the patent office first thing in the morning!

Arlen Specter is a complete piece of ****.
I know of another drug that J and J pushed for unapproved use despite deaths.. Quickly and quietly this is covered up and stopped once too many die.

Maybe the Federal medical committee stacked with puppet physicians that do as they're told should just ban all diagnostic tests for anemia so there would be no need for anemia drugs. Hell, if you can't diagnose an illness you can't treat it, right? Look at the potential health care savings. That's basically what they've done with prostate cancer and the PSA test for men. The board puppets said 'no more PSA tests' so guys walk around with cancer and haven't a clue until they experience pelvic pains. By that time they are dead men walking. ****, just ban diagnostic tests for all illnesses. Our per capita health care costs would plummet! The average life span would fall to 60 years and it would save the social security system too! Two birds with one stone!

I agree with Ilyachern and also the general indignation over dose prescription abuse but this "news" is 5 years old.

The corrupt Obozo administration must be getting desperate to divert attention from its criminal bankster handlers.

The psa has no positive outcome, even if it's free. It needs to be improved first.

I talked to a couple urologists in the VA system the other day about the PSA ruling. They pretty much said it sucked. And since they're on salary there's no financial incentive for them to perform more prostatectomies or to supervise more radiation treatments. It's just more work. The Feds tried to ban mammograms too but too much pushback from the women and they reneged. But I see where they're going. Get the lifespan back down to 55 like it was in the 20's/30's and save SS and medicare. Hey, whatever works.

Yeah. I'm sure your friends invalidate all the studies.

Quote:

just ban diagnostic tests for all illnesses. Our per capita health care costs would plummet! The average life span would fall to 60 years and it would save the social security system too! Two birds with one stone!

I know you are being sarcastic but there is a point there.

The medical industry in its current state of ignorance does a lot of harm in its inept treatments of chronic diseases. There is the money cost - loss of freedom, opportunity, life satisfaction - and then there are the years of debilitation as the person degenerates and dies - loss of quality of life for that person, his family and taxpayers. Anyone given the choice would choose to die from a short acute illness rather than a decade of mutilation and debilitation and financial distress, IMO.

Moreover, it might quickly become apparent that the ones who died at 60 and less had overindulged in something or other and those who wanted a healthy old age would make an effort to accomplish that and succeed.

Ilyachern and ETZ...

The drugs are effective and helpful. However, numerous physicians and hospitals over-utilized them to generate profits. Those that did were slammed when the rules changed. The new rules still allow their use in clinically appropriate situations.

The drug companies were complicit in the over-utilization fiasco.

This is another reason to allow for re-importation of drugs or to shorten patent protection.

Quote:

Way overstated. These meds and their counterpart for white blood cells generation neupogen were/are a miracle for cancer patients, dialysis patients and others.

The real question is what's the cost vs. benefit ratio. If it helps 10k people but if the costs to develop and distribute are 10 billion that's a million a person. That's great if you're Steve Jobs and have a spare million but for the average person their costs gets shifted to everyone else.

Some treatments are simply not cost effective and I hate to be cold and bring it all down to money but that's the reality now. Maybe if there were some reforms and drug research regulations were eased so there could be volunteer groups doing cutting edge research on the fringe areas then stuff like this would happen and people would get helped and it would raise everyone's costs by almost 10% a year. But we're too busy pretending to care about people when the reality is we're fostering a monopoly that will topple this country in a few short years.

There is no guarantee of a healthy, long life. We're all going to die at some point or another and if you don't have the money and there aren't any volunteer efforts, etc, then you're simply going to die.

Cobra:

Benefit of erythroid stimilating agents (procrit, epo, aranesp) are vastly overstated. Patients are still tired, just "less tired", and for over 2 billion a year...ain't worth it. They ARE NEEDED for dialysis patients and were not abused in that population. Guidelines instituted a few years ago give "target ranges" to prevent over use.

The White blood cell stimulating drugs (neulasta and neupogen) probably do play a role in improving overall survival but need to be limited to situations in which you are aiming for a cure. Most patients getting chemo are in a non-curative situation and the use in those patients is discouraged.

Some docs...a minority...would give both classes of drugs to large numbers of patients and generate massive profits...its largely been curtailed.

The next two rackets that they need to look at are IMRT (a form of radiation used in prostate cancer...vastly overcompensated which is why all urology groups now have radiation machines) and "bone health". Urologists are getting deep into both because they have the right poplulation of patients (old men) for both programs.