FDA Approves Anemia Therapy: Drug Produces Red Blood Cells

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The Food and Drug Administration has approved a drug that stimulates production of red blood cells in anemic patients prior to surgery, countering blood loss during some procedures.

The drug, marketed by Ortho Biotech under the name Procrit "essentially allows the body to act as its own blood bank by building a reserve of red blood cells," said Dr. Thomas P. Sculco, director of orthopedic surgery at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.

"If patients have higher red blood cell counts before their surgery, clinical evidence demonstrates they are less likely to need transfusions," he added.

Procrit, marketed under the generic name Epoetin alfa, …