Aranesp vs. Procrit

Amgen Inc. could end up with the best of all possible worlds with its Aranesp second generation epoetin alfa, but it won't happen immediately.

On the one hand, because of the way EPO is given to dialysis patients, there is no reason to expect Aranesp to rapidly cannibalize the lock on the U.S. dialysis market held by the company's first generation version, Epogen, which posted $2.1 billion in 2001 sales. ...