Over 5 years of darbepoetin alfa: two case histories

Anaemia is one of the most serious complications of renal dysfunction and is associated with severe, often life-threatening clinical sequelae including cardiovascular disease [1]. Anaemia of renal insufficiency originates from a reduced ability of the kidney to produce the protein hormone erythropoietin (EPO), which is responsible for the initiation of red blood cell (RBC) production from precursor cells produced by the bone marrow. Currently, European Best Practice Guidelines for the Management of Anaemia in Patients with Chronic Renal Failure recommend that treatment of renal anaemia should be achieved by the supplementation of endogenous EPO with recombinant human EPO (rHuEPO), which stimulates erythropoiesis, thereby inducing a rise in haemoglobin (Hb) concentrations [2]. Usually, rHuEPO therapy is given two or three times per week and can be administered by the intravenous or subcutaneous routes in patients undergoing haemodialysis (HD) or subcutaneously in patients receiving peritoneal dialysis (PD). Darbepoetin alfa (Aranesp, Amgen, Inc.) is an erythropoiesis-stimulating protein that is molecularly distinct from rHuEPO. It is super-sialated, which leads to a longer serum half-life than that of rHuEPO [3,4], resulting in extended in vivo erythropoietic activity. Darbepoetin alfa can be given less frequently and can be used subcutaneously or intravenously with the same, or equivalent Hb responses and dosing [7], offering simplified dosing for new patients and those currently treated with rHuEPO. Clinical trials with darbepoetin alfa began in 1997 and this brief article reports on two patients whose long-term anaemia management has been simplified by its use.