More Drug Troubles for Amgen

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New research reveals that the off-label use of Amgen Inc.’s best-selling drug Aranesp could increase the risk of death for some cancer patients.


According to the study, which Amgen made public Monday, 48.5 percent of cancer patients not undergoing chemotherapy who received Aranesp in a clinical trial died compared with 46 percent of patients on placebo.


While treating chemotherapy-induced anemia is Aranesp’s primary use, Amgen said off-label use of the drug for other cancer-related symptoms accounted for about $560 million of Aranesp’s global sales last year.


Amgen originally disclosed the preliminary findings in January and today released the full study at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.


The Thousand Oaks-based company had also reported in January that the study did not show that Aranesp could actually reduce the need for blood transfusions in patients, and the company said it would no longer seek approval for the condition known as anemia of cancer.


Aranesp, an improved formula of Amgen’s older anemia drug Epogen, is approved for use in patients with chronic kidney disease and for cancer patients whose anemia is caused by chemotherapy. It is Amgen’s top seller, with sales last year of $4.1 billion.


Shares in Amgen closed up 62 cents Monday at $59.65.

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