BACKGROUND Recombinant erythropoietin has become a routine component of care of patients with chronic kidney disease reducing the need for blood transfusions but raising the risks for cardiovascular events. We undertook this secondary analysis of subjects enrolled in the Correction of Hemoglobin and Outcomes in Renal Insufficiency (CHOIR) trial to examine the interrelationships between epoetin-...

BACKGROUND At least 2.7 million Americans are infected with chronic hepatitis C. An increasing number are treated with interferon alfa plus ribavirin regimens. Not surprisingly, this immune stimulation is associated with the development of autoimmune and cutaneous diseases. Several cases of sarcoidosis have been reported with hepatitis C treatment, most recently in association with pegylated in...

BACKGROUND Corifollitropin alfa, a fusion protein lacking LH activity, has a longer elimination half-life and extended time to peak levels than recombinant FSH (rFSH). A single injection of corifollitropin alfa may replace seven daily gonadotrophin injections during the first week of ovarian stimulation. METHODS In this large, double-blind, randomized, non-inferiority trial the ongoing pregna...

BACKGROUND In patients with chronic renal failure, the ability to reduce the administration frequency of subcutaneous (SC) erythropoietin (epoetin) could provide benefits and may improve compliance. The study investigated whether once-weekly SC epoetin alfa was equivalent to twice- or thrice-weekly SC administration in maintaining anaemia correction in haemodialysis patients. METHODS Eighty-t...

PURPOSE To compare maintenance epoetin alfa administered once every 3 weeks with continued weekly epoetin alfa for patients with cancer-associated anemia. PATIENTS AND METHODS Eligible patients were randomly assigned at enrollment to receive three weekly doses of epoetin alfa 40,000 U subcutaneously (SC), followed by either standard weekly epoetin alfa (40K arm) or 120,000 U of epoetin alfa (...

The starting materials for the synthesis were Li2S (Alfa Aesar, 99.9 %), P (Alfa Aesar, 98.9 %), S (Alfa Aesar, 99.5%), and Sn (Alfa Aesar, 99.995%). The dry starting materials were first mechanically treated in a ball mill under argon for 2 days. Pellets were pressed from the obtained amorphous precursor and heated in an evacuated quartz ampoule according to the following temperature program: ...

The distinct molecular structure of darbepoetin alfa, in both its amino acid sequence and its carbohydrate content, results in a biologic profile with lower binding affinity, longer circulating half-life, and higher in vivo potency compared with the epoetins. The mechanisms responsible for these differences in biological effects have not been fully explained. Pharmacokinetic investigations of d...

BACKGROUND Patients with genotype 1 hepatitis C virus (HCV) who do not have a sustained response to therapy with peginterferon alfa and ribavirin have a low likelihood of success with retreatment. METHODS We randomly assigned patients with HCV genotype 1 who had not had a sustained virologic response after peginterferon alfa-ribavirin therapy to one of four treatment groups: 115 patients to t...

BACKGROUND Signs and symptoms of the X-linked disorder, Fabry disease (FD), can occur early during childhood with heterogeneous clinical manifestations including potential cardiac and renal dysfunction. Several studies support the efficacy of the enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) agalsidase alfa, in adults with FD, though published data on the long-term safety and efficacy of agalsidase alfa in ...

background egypt has one of the highest (16-8%) prevalence rates of hcv infection in the world. approximately 90% of egyptian hcv isolates belong to a single subtype (4a), which responds less successfully to interferon therapy than other subtypes. studies comparing the efficacy and safety of pegifn alfa-2a and pegifn alfa-2b in treatment-naive hcv-infected patients have shown conflicting result...