贫血药会诱发白血病？

梅奥研究所发现贫血药和白血病风险之间存在联系

Mayo Clinic Study Links Anemia Drugs to Leukemia Risk

Anemia drugs from Amgen and Johnson & Johnson may raise the risk that patients with a bone marrow disease will later develop leukemia, according to an analysis of 30 years of patient records.

Mayo Clinic researchers reviewed records of 311 patients with primary myelofibrosis, a scarring of the bone marrow, from 1976 to 2006. The drugs — Aranesp and Epogen from Amgen and Procrit from Johnson & Johnson — were linked to leukemia among 27 patients who developed the disease, according to research presented yesterday at the American Society of Hematology meeting in Atlanta.

Past studies linked anemia drugs to heart attack, stroke and death when used in high doses. Warnings from regulators about the risks caused sales of Aranesp in the United States to drop 36 percent in the third quarter. Aranesp is Amgen’s biggest product, with $4.12 billion in sales in 2006.

The study also found a higher risk of leukemia among patients who took danazol, a modified form of testosterone. Risk was also higher for patients with a high count of immature leukemia cells and a low number of platelet cells in the blood. Patients who took other treatments, like thalidomide and interferon-alpha, had no higher risk, researchers said.

Patients with primary myelofibrosis feel fatigued, and they sometimes take an anemia drug to stimulate growth of oxygen-carrying red blood cells.

The findings needed to be confirmed in a trial to answer the question about anemia drug risk, Dr. Ayalew Tefferi, a Mayo Clinic hematologist and the study’s lead investigator, said in a statement.

“While we cannot take these findings as an absolute, at the same time, they cannot be ignored,” Dr. Tefferi said. “Treatment decisions regarding the use of anemia drugs in patients with primary myelofibrosis should carefully be evaluated.”