The FDA received new data on risks of anemia drugs, which is consistent with previous data on tumor growth and death. Two more studies provide further evidence of the risks of anemia drugs. The studies show that patients with breast or advanced cervical cancers who received EPO drugs to treat anemia caused by chemotherapy died sooner or had more rapid tumor growth than similar patients who didn't receive the anemia drug. The two studies were not among the six studies that were described in revised labeling approved by the FDA November 8, 2007.
http://www.fda.gov:80/bbs/topics/NEW.../NEW01769.html
Gee, could it be that increased numbers of red cells deliver more oxygen to the tumor cells and thereby increase their activity across the board, including with respect to invasion, proliferation, and metatstasis? On one hand we're developing drugs to halt and reverse angiogenesis while on the other hand we're helping the tumor to obtain more oxygen with existing vasculature. And nobody in charge foresaw that? Amazing how they can apply differing standards for proof or benefit when profit is involved.
Federal laws bar drug companies from paying doctors to prescribe medicines that are given in pill form and purchased by patients from pharmacies. But companies can rebate part of the price that doctors pay for drugs, like the anemia medicines, which they dispense in their offices as part of treatment. The anemia drugs are injected or given intravenously in physicians’ offices. Doctors receive the rebates after they buy the drugs from the companies. But they also receive reimbursement from Medicare or private insurers for the drugs, often at a markup over the doctors’ purchase price.