Novel strategies for stimulating erythropoiesis and potential new treatments for anaemia

As with many other therapeutic areas in modern-day medicine, scientific advances in drug development (using such techniques as recombinant DNA technology, site-directed mutagenesis, pegylation of molecules, peptide library screening, and gene transfer) have resulted in the development of potential new agents and strategies for stimulating erythropoiesis. These advances are of possible benefit in treating anaemia due to various causes, including chronic renal failure. Several new treatments will soon become clinically available, while others are at present at an early stage of development but are nevertheless of scientific interest. We review these new therapeutic strategies, and discuss at what stage some of the newer products are in relation to their clinical development programme.