Cancer patients who receive drugs such as Neupogen and Neulasta, which stimulate the growth of white blood cells, may be less likely to die from chemotherapy-related complications, according to researchers at the University of Rochester and Duke.This study examined 17 trials involving more than 3,000 patients receiving chemotherapy. The researchers found that nearly 40 percent of patients who did not receive the drugs developed fever and low white blood cell levels called febrile neutropenia compared to only 22 percent who took the drugs while taking the chemotherapy.
The researchers published these findings in the July 20, 2007 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The work was being conducted by the Awareness of Neutropenia in Chemotherapy (ANC) Study Group, a network of investigators whose work is unrestrictedly funded by Amgen, the maker of a commonly utilized white blood cell booster that goes by the names Neupogen and Neulasta.
