Tackling anaemia in diabetics

A clinical trial to evaluate the impact of treating anaemia on cardiovascular risks in people with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease is being conducted by the biotechnology company Amgen Inc.

Details about the design of the trial were presented recently at the annual meeting of the American Society of Nephrology in St. Louis. The trial will examine whether treating anaemia with the drug Aransep lowers the risk of death and non-fatal cardiovascular events in people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and type 2 diabetes. The international, multi-centre study will include 4 000 patients. “Current research suggests that anaemia is an augmenter of cardiovascular risk in individuals with CKD and type 2 diabetes,” lead investigator Dr Mark Pfeffer, chief of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School, said in a prepared statement. Anaemia is a common complication of CKD.(Source: American Society of Nephrology, Reuters, December 2004)