High-dose darbepoetin alpha in the treatment of anaemia of lower risk myelodysplastic syndrome results of a phase II study.

An open-label, phase II non-randomised trial was conducted with darbepoetin (DAR), an erythropoiesis-stimulating factor with prolonged half-life, at a weekly dose of 300 mug subcutaneously in 62 anaemic patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) with an endogenous erythropoietin (EPO) level <500 mU/ml. Most of the patients were classified as low or intermediate 1 according to the International Prognostic Scoring System. After 12 weeks, 44 (71%) patients had an erythroid response (34 major and 10 minor), including eight of 13 patients who were previous non-responders to conventional EPO.