Drug of The Month – ARANESP
Aranesp is an FDA approved drug for the treatment of anemia associated with chronic renal (kidney) failure, for patients whose anemia is due to the effects of receiving chemotherapy as a treatment for cancer, anemia secondary to AZT therapy for HIV/AIDS, or anemia due to ’chronic disease, such as Rheumatoid arthritis (www.cignamedicare.com).
From what I understand, this drug costs about $1,400.00 a month. It should not be given to people who have ‘uncontrolled’ hyper-tension. It is also my understanding that this drug should not be given to a person who has anemia due to an iron, B-12 or Folic Acid deficiency.
FYI- When I typed “Aranesp, death” into the Google search engine, I came up with no less than 9,230 hits. I also discovered that Aranesp’s manufacturer, Amegn, the worlds biggest bio-technology company, had revenues of $2.9 Billion (Jan.-05- www.bloomberg.com/apps/news).
And this from www.my.webme.com (sources: FDA Amgen): “Doctors are being ‘urged’not to use more than the recommended dose of Aranesp, a drug used to treat chemotherapy-induced anemia. Using this drug at ‘higher-than recommended’ doses increases the risk of adverse effects, in-cluding blood clots and death.” Anemia (blood lacking in healthy red blood cells, which trans-ports oxygen to organs) is a common side effect of chemotherapy, which can damage the pro-duction of red blood cells. And this from the PDR (Physicians Desk Reference): In all studies the most frequently “reported” serious adverse reactions w/Aranesp were: thrombosis, congestive heart failure, sepsis, cardiac arrhythmia. Possible other side-effects include:
edema fatigue fever rash
death chest pain fluid overload convulsions
infection flu-like symptoms hemorrhage dehydration
asthenia hypertension hypotension stroke
cardiac arrest chest pain thrombosis seizure
heart failure headache dizziness pruritus
diarrhea vomiting nausea bronchitis
abdominal pain constipation myalgia cough
arthralgia limb pain back pain dyspnea
IRON DEFICIENCY anemia: Too little iron to make sufficient hemoglobin. (Eat iron rich foods- liver, vegetables, molasses or take iron supplements)
VITAMIN B-12 anemia: Digestive tract is not absorbing B-12 from diet. (One can get B-12 injections from a doctor who is open to healing.)
FOLIC ACID anemia: Inadequate intake of folic acid.(Eat more eggs, green veggies and take folic acid supplements)
It never ceases to astound me that there are doctors out there who will prescribe deadly drugs when nutritional supplements could just be the answer. -G.E.
