The labels of <"http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/aranesp">Aranesp, <"http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/epogen">Epogen and <"http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/procrit">Procrit, drugs used to purchase prednisone paypal without prescription treat anemia, are being updated to include new dosage guidelines and purchase prednisone paypal without prescription specific information on the drugs’ cardiovascular side effects. The label modifications come less than a year after the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) ordered a “black box” warning regarding cardiovascular problems and purchase prednisone paypal without prescription other safety issues posed by the drugs be included on their labels. All three medications are purchase prednisone paypal without prescription manufactured by Amgen, although Procrit is sold by Johnson & Johnson under a licensing agreement.

Aranesp, Epogen and purchase prednisone paypal without prescription Procrit are all part of a class of drugs known as erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs). ESAs treat anemia in patients with kidney disease or purchase prednisone paypal without prescription certain cancers by boosting red blood cells. However, several studies have purchase prednisone paypal without prescription linked the anemia drugs to cardiovascular problems and deaths. They have purchase prednisone paypal without prescription also been tied to worsening tumors when used in cancer patients. Soon after Epogen was introduced, some doctors attempted to purchase prednisone paypal without prescription use it to increase patients’ hemoglobin (the part of the blood cell that carries oxygen) to levels as high as14 grams. A healthy person would normally have purchase prednisone paypal without prescription a hemoglobin level between 13.5 and 14. Two clinical trials showed that purchase prednisone paypal without prescription the large dosage required to attain such high hemoglobin levels could lead to purchase prednisone paypal without prescription heart problems and death. In March, the FDA added a black box warning to the drugs’ labels cautioning doctors that purchase prednisone paypal without prescription the medications should be administered at the lowest dose possible in order to purchase prednisone paypal without prescription bring red blood cell counts to the lowest level necessary to purchase prednisone paypal without prescription avoid transfusions. The warning labels said hemoglobin levels should not be purchase prednisone paypal without prescription allowed to go above 12 grams per deciliter of blood.

The modified black box warning on Aranesp, Epogen and purchase prednisone paypal without prescription Procrit now has more specific dosing information. It now states that dosing should be individualized to “achieve and purchase prednisone paypal without prescription maintain hemoglobin levels within the range of 10 to 12 g/dL.” For kidney patients, the new warning now reads that “patients experienced greater risks for purchase prednisone paypal without prescription death and serious cardiovascular events when administered ESAs to target higher versus lower hemoglobin levels (13.5 vs. 11.3 g/dL; 14 vs. 10 g/dL) in two clinical studies’ rather than purchase prednisone paypal without prescription the more generic warning that risks were seen when hemoglobin levels of greater than purchase prednisone paypal without prescription 12 were target.

Amgen also announced that purchase prednisone paypal without prescription it planned to ask the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to purchase prednisone paypal without prescription loosen payment restrictions for Aranesp, Epogen and Procrit. Shortly after the purchase prednisone paypal without prescription FDA added the black box warning in March, Medicare announced that purchase prednisone paypal without prescription program would not pay for Aranesp, Epogen and Procrit in patients whose hemoglobin levels were at 10 grams per deciliter.