J. W. Eschbach, 74, Dies; Developed Anemia Drug Epogen

[okarol]

September 15, 2007

J. W. Eschbach, 74, Dies; Developed Anemia Drug

By JEREMY PEARCE
NEW YORK TIMES

Dr. Joseph W. Eschbach, a leading kidney specialist whose studies in the 1960’s led to a dramatic improvement in the treatment of anemia in patients on dialysis, died on Sept. 7 at his home in Bellevue, Wash. He was 74.

The cause was lung cancer, his family said.

Dr. Eschbach began studying anemia as a young researcher in nephrology at the University of Washington. The disorder causes a decline in red blood cells and interrupts the delivery of oxygen to the body’s tissues. About 90 percent of patients undergoing dialysis for kidney failure become anemic, a condition once treated with blood transfusions that could expose them to hepatitis and other diseases.

Working with a hematologist, Dr. John W. Adamson, Dr. Eschbach looked at various forms of renal failure and the role of a natural hormone, erythropoietin, also known as EPO, in the formation of red blood cells. Studying sheep and other animals in the 1970s, the two scientists helped establish that EPO stimulates the production of red cells in bone marrow and could lead to a treatment for anemia in humans.

In the 1980s, Dr. Eschbach, who had a large private practice in Seattle, and others helped lead a clinical trial for a synthetic form of the hormone produced by Amgen, a California biotechnology company. The trial was successful, and its results were published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 1987.

In 1989, the Food and Drug Administration approved the hormone, called Epogen, which remains in use.

Dr. Christopher R. Blagg, a nephrologist and emeritus professor of medicine at Washington, said the development of the drug led to “a difference in patients’ well-being that was as strong and as dramatic as what we saw with the advent of the kidney transplant.”

Throughout his career, Dr. Eschbach combined research with its clinical application. He was an early advocate of treating kidney patients at home, if possible, instead of in the hospital, and was director of home dialysis at Washington from 1965 to 1972.

Joseph Wetherill Eschbach was born in Detroit. He graduated from Otterbein College before earning a medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in 1959.

He became a clinical instructor at Washington in 1965, and was named a clinical professor of nephrology there in 1975. Dr. Eschbach was also a senior research associate at Northwest Kidney Centers in Seattle, where he was a former president of the board. He retired in 2003.

Dr. Eschbach is survived by his wife of 51 years, the former MaryAnn Charles.

He is also survived by a son, Joseph, of Bellevue; two daughters, Annbeth of New York and Cheryl of Atlanta; a sister, Margabeth Cibulka, of East Lansing, Mich.; and five grandchildren.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/15/health/15eschbach-backf-obt-33-28.html?_r=1&ref=us


PHOTO: Dr. Joseph W. Eschbach

[tamara]

 


To Joseph    Cheers for helping us get that lil boost of energy while we go through this disease.

May you RIP

[Sluff]

Thank you J.W. Eshbach for your contribution to the Renal community. That drug may very well have been the key to longevity of those who have stayed active both in work and play.

May God be with you in your final rest.

[Zach]

To you, Joseph! Gods speed on your journey.
 

[okarol]

Obituary

Joseph Eschbach, doctor who helped develop kidney drug, dies at 74

By Craig Welch
Seattle Times environment reporter

Before Joseph W. Eschbach and his research partner first strolled into the lab to work with anemic sheep, humans with kidney disease, weakened by anemia, could barely descend a flight of stairs.

But in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Dr. Eschbach and Dr. John Adamson, working at the University of Washington, made a breathtaking discovery: They could correct anemia in their test subjects by infusing them with the hormone that instructs bone marrow to make more red blood cells.

Dr. Eschbach's research led to the development of hormone treatments that have helped ease the suffering of more than a million human kidney patients worldwide over the past 20 years.

"It was a remarkable achievement," said Joyce F. Jackson, president and CEO of Northwest Kidney Centers. "And what's really remarkable was that he wasn't just a researcher; he was still taking care of patients every day."

Dr. Eschbach, 74, a devoted physician, husband and father, a prolific writer and a passionate advocate for research and his patients, died Sept. 7 at home in Bellevue, after a battle with lung cancer. He did not smoke.

Dr. Eschbach was born in Detroit in 1933, and graduated from Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio, where he met his future wife, MaryAnn. After his medical school and a residency in Seattle, the couple settled in the Northwest.

From the beginning, he was a physician who put patients first, friends and colleagues say. In 1964, Dr. Eschbach directed a dialysis center — the first to train patients to operate kidney machines at home.

"His entire career was really based on one thing: what's best for people," said Dr. John Stivelman, chief medical officer of Northwest Kidney Centers.

When his mentor, Dr. Belding Scribner, challenged Dr. Eschbach to find a way to correct the anemia, Dr. Eschbach accepted the challenge.

Convinced that perhaps a hormone stimulated by the kidney kept healthy people from being anemic, he and his partner went to work.

"He was very creative," said his wife. "He knew there were people who thought he was foolish and barking up the wrong tree. But he was open-minded and a very determined hard worker."

After experiments that Stivelman called "elegant," the then-fledgling biotechnology company Amgen cloned the gene for the human hormone erythropoietin. Dr. Eschbach helped lead clinical trials that treated kidney patients with the resulting drug, Epogen, which eventually proved 97 percent successful in treating renal anemia.

"Joe got to see, during his lifetime, the enormous and profound benefit of his contribution to hundreds of thousands of people," Stivelman said. "How many people ever get that kind of gratification?"

Yet even after he changed the face of kidney care, Dr. Eschbach — ever gracious and humble, and a man of deep faith who was an elder at Newport Presbyterian Church in Bellevue — remained focused on relieving suffering. He worked at the Minor and James Medical clinic, led the Northwest Kidney Centers as a trustee and senior research adviser, and continued to see patients, often on his own time. Earlier this summer, the centers helped endow a professorship in kidney research at the UW in his name.

Dr. Eschbach is survived by his wife of 51 years, MaryAnn; his children, Cheryl Eschbach and her husband, John Duffield, of Atlanta, Annbeth Eschbach and her husband, Patrick Parcells, of New York City, Joseph Charles Eschbach and his wife, Deanne, of Bellevue; his sister, MargaBeth Cibulka, of East Lansing, Mich.; and five grandchildren.

A celebration of his life will be at 2 p.m. Sept. 30 at First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue, 1717 Bellevue Way N.E.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to: the Northwest Kidney Foundation, P.O. Box 3035, Seattle, WA 98122, for the Kidney Research Institute; Newport Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 53385, Bellevue, WA 98105-3385; or Otterbein College, Development Office, One Otterbein College, Westerville, Ohio, 43081, for the science-building fund.

Craig Welch: 206-464-2093 or cwelch@seattletimes.com

[paris]

Thanks to a good man for helping so many of us have a better life--or just life. 

[goofynina]

R.I.P. Joseph Eschbach, thanks for all you did 

[Bill Peckham]

He will be missed.