European drug regulators said today that cancer patients with a “reasonably long life-expectancy” should get blood transfusions rather than take anemia drugs. A statement from the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) is online here.

Anemia is a common side effect of chemotherapy, and anemia drugs such as Amgen’s Aranesp and Johnson & Johnson’s Procrit (sold in Europe as Eprex) are often used as an alternative to blood transfusions. But some studies suggest the drugs may increase the risk of tumor progression and shorten life.

Sales of the drugs have already been hammered in this country by safety concerns; earlier this year, an FDA advisory committee said the drugs shouldn’t be given to cancer patients receiving potentially curative treatments.

Still, JP Morgan analyst Geoffrey Meacham writes in a note this afternoon that he and his colleagues are “somewhat surprised with the more aggressive stance” by the EMEA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use.

About half of European anemia-drug use is in cancer patients, and 40% of those patients could fall under the umbrella of today’s warning, writes UBS analyst Bruce Nudell. According to that math, 20% of European sales of the drugs could be affected.

Photo: Associated Press

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