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New York Times: F.D.A. Urges Less Use of Anemia Drugs

WASHINGTON — Federal drug regulators said on Friday that three drugs that had been widely used to treat anemia in both kidney and cancer patients were so dangerous to the heart that doctors should consider avoiding the medicines altogether in some patients and using less of them in others.

The Food and Drug Administration concluded that there were no risk-free doses of Epogen, Aranesp and Procrit, and that doctors should use the medicines only in patients suffering from severe anemia. Doctors have used the medicines in the past to make patients feel better and as a way to increase chemotherapy doses in cancer patients.

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