PURPOSE To evaluate the effects of epoetin alfa on patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in patients with breast cancer receiving myelotoxic chemotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS Women with hemoglobin concentrations ≤ 12.0 g/dl and an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS) score of 0-3 were randomized 1:1 to receive epoetin alfa (10,000 IU 3 times weekly) or best standard ca...

BACKGROUND & AIMS Durable post-treatment response is uncommon in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients on nucleos(t)ide analogue therapy. Response, response predictors and safety were assessed in patients who switched from long-term entecavir (ETV) to peginterferon alfa-2a. METHODS Hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive CHB patients who had received ETV for 9-36 months, with HBeAg <100 PEIU/ml a...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the long-term efficacy and safety of low-dose and dose-escalating therapy of interferon alfa-2a in the treatment of Behçet uveitis. METHODS This study included 37 patients with refractory Behçet panuveitis unresponsive to conventional immunosuppressive therapy. Induction interferon alfa-2a therapy was given as a daily dose of 3.0 million IU (MIU) subcutaneously for 14...

BACKGROUND Several studies with erythropoiesis-stimulating agents claim that maintenance therapy of renal anaemia may be possible at extended dosing intervals; however, few studies were randomized, results varied, and comparisons between agents were absent. We report results of a multi-national, randomized, prospective trial comparing haemoglobin maintenance with methoxy polyethylene glycol-epo...

We report on the successful desensitization of an adult female with Pompe disease who had previously experienced anaphylaxis to intravenous alglucosidase alfa therapy. The starting alglucosidase alfa dose for desensitization was 10mg/kg with gradual dose escalation and desensitization via serial dilution was completed over five infusions. This methodology serves as a means to desensitize patien...

BACKGROUND Some studies have shown that switching patients from one tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alfa inhibitor to another may be beneficial when they have an inadequate response or an adverse event. OBJECTIVE We sought to assess the variables predicting the efficacy of the second TNF-alfa inhibitor in patients discontinuing the first TNF-alfa inhibitor. METHODS Data from all 5423 consecutiv...

Anemia as associated with numerous clinical conditions can be debilitating, but frequently can be treated via administration of epoetin-alfa, darbepoietin-alfa, or methoxy-PEG epoetin-beta. Despite the complexity of EPO-EPO receptor interactions, the development of interesting EPO mimetic peptides (EMPs) also has been possible. CNTO 530 is one such novel MIMETIBODY Fc-domain dimeric EMP fusion ...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Darbepoetin alfa is an erythropoiesis-stimulating protein that works via the same mechanism and has a threefold longer serum half-life than recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO). The objective of this study was to evaluate extending the dosing interval of darbepoetin alfa to once every other week administration for the treatment of anemia in patients with chronic kidney dise...

Anemia as associated with numerous clinical conditions can be debilitating, but frequently can be treated via administration of epoetin-alfa, darbepoietin-alfa or methoxy-PEG epoetin-beta. Despite the complexity of EPO-EPO receptor interactions, the development of interesting EPO mimetic peptides (EMPs) also has been possible. CNTO 530 is one such novel MIMETIBODY TM Fc-domain dimeric EMP fusio...

The first double masked placebo controlled trial of interferon alfa-2a for the treatment of overt choroidal neovascular membranes is presented. A total of 43 consecutive patients were randomised to double masked treatment with either interferon alfa-2a, 3 million IU subcutaneously three times a week or matching placebo, for a period of 8 weeks. End of study changes from baseline in distance and...