Medicare to reduce U.S. payments for anemia drugs

The U.S. Medicare health insurance program said on Friday it would reduce payments for anemia drugs when used to treat elderly and disabled patients who are undergoing kidney dialysis.

Anemia drugs known as erythropoiesis-stimulating agents, or ESAs, are sold by Amgen Inc. as Epogen and Aranesp and by Johnson & Johnson as Procrit.

"In response to safety concerns, we are modifying the ESA monitoring policy to provide greater restrictions on the dosage amounts of ESAs for which payment is made" for patients with hemoglobin levels above 13 grams per deciliter, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said in a statement.

The new limits will take effect January 1, 2008. CMS said it would take public comments to decide if it should further revise the policy.

An Amgen spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment.

Johnson & Johnson spokeswoman Stephanie Fagan said the policy would not affect Procrit because the company does not market the drug for use in dialysis patients.

source : news.yahoo.com