• Defective Drug Side Effects

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Anemia patients getting treatment at large, for-profit kidney dialysis chains are often over-treated with epoetin—an anemia drug sold as Epogen and Procrit—increasing their risk of suffering potentially life-threatening side effects, a new study finds.

Researchers compared the method of treatment received at for-profit and nonprofit dialysis centers for almost 160,000 patients nationwide and found a significant variation.

On average, hospital-based centers administered about 16,188 doses of Epogen a week compared to the 20,838 doses at for-profit chains—nearly 3,300 more doses per week.

“Basically what we found in the area of anemia management is there are wide differences in practice,” said Mae Thamer, lead researcher.

Epogen Side Effect Concerns

The vast differences in anemia treatment poses a serious problem to patients: Recent studies have found that Epogen, Procrit, and similar anemia drugs increase the risk of life-threatening side effects including blood clots, stroke, hear attack, and death.

So why do some dialysis chains over-treat their patients? Researchers say it may be because Epogen is one of very few drugs used to treat end-stage kidney disease that is covered by Medicare, thus resulting in more profit for these centers. In fact, about a quarter of their profits might actually be coming from Epogen and similar anemia drugs, states an editorial that accompanies the study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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