Industry-Backed Kidney Docs Dismiss FDA Warning

An industry-backed doctors' group last week cautioned renal physicians to carefully scrutinize a Food and Drug Administration warning that anti-anemia drugs made by Amgen and Johnson & Johnson's Ortho Biotech division could increase the risk of death, blood clots, strokes, and heart attacks in patients with chronic kidney failure when given in high doses. The Renal Physicians Association, which receives funding from Amgen and J&J, released a statement last week calling the advisory potentially "misleading" and asserting that some of the recommendations do not apply to chronic kidney disease patients. The association encouraged doctors to make treatment decisions on a case-by-case basis.

Reprinted from the Center for Science in the Public Interest's "Integrity in Science Watch" newsletter.