I Hate Dialysis Message Board

Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: General Discussion => Topic started by: gorwell1984 on February 23, 2008, 08:28:10 PM

Title: Procrit trials possibly tainted by Insurance Companies
Post by: gorwell1984 on February 23, 2008, 08:28:10 PM
A very good friend is a professor in the bio science lab at the University of Cincinnati. A very good friend that has been the 2nd leading scientist running tests on certain hemo drugs has just written a paper regarding the different results they received from their 18 month study on EPO drugs.
Although he says it's too early to tell for sure he feels that the insurance companies had something to do with certain trials being tainted which led the FDA to require black box warnings to all EPO hormone pharmaceuticals.

Both, my very long time friend and his colleagues have always been against "big brother" and large corporation's influence in healthcare. My friend lost his job at the University of San Diego several years ago by uncovering certain claims led by the Insurance Industry in a move to save money and undermine several privately run scientific medical trials. Four of 6 scientists on that particular trial study received substantial monitary severance incentives to move on and keep their mouths shut.

Below is an excerpt from a paper that has just been submitted to be published which originated by the University team leader of the trial in Cincinnati two weeks ago. The documentation made it's way to the FDA where they quoted the UC trial team leader.

"The agency is in the process of re-evaluating the safety of Aransep, Epogen, and Procrit on the basis of the results of recent clinical studies,” said Steven Galson, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research".
At $1000 per injection I'm sure the insurance industry has every reason in the world to do anything possible to keep from having to spend  that much money on patients that are anemic.
Title: Re: Procrit trials possibly tainted by Insurance Companies
Post by: BigSteve on February 24, 2008, 01:01:16 PM
If you have knowledge of clinical trials which contraindicate those trials which the FDA is using for those
"black box" warnings please give us citations or abstracts. If I am not mistaken the trials used by the
FDA showed increased risk of heart attacks when EPO drugs were given when Hemoglobin was above
13. I believe this was as they were used with cancer patients.