Hematide

Product name:Hematide

Product description:Hematide is an investigational synthetic peptide, substituted with polyethylene glycol (thus described as "PEGylated"). It is a novel erythropoietic agent, being an analog of erythropoietin, and has been developed for medical use as a treatment for anemia,now in stage 3 clinical trials. Whether it will be approved is not certain.The drugs currently used to treat anemia in the United States are epoetin alfa (which mimics the structure of the human glycoprotein which promotes red blood cell development, sold under the names Procrit and Epogen) and darboepoetin alfa (which is a more glycosylated form of epoetin, sold under the name Aranesp). There are similar biologic agents, such as Mircera, sold by Roche in Europe, however "United States patent law currently forbids their sale.