Recommendations March 13 by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s Oncology Drug Advisory Committee for three erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) included suggestions of a black box warning on the products for an association with increased tumor growth and shortened survival time. And the panel voted against using ESAs in patients with metastatic breast cancer, as well as cancer of the head and neck and in patients likely to be cured by treatment. Two of the three ESAs at issue—Epogen (epoetin alfa) and Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa)—are produced by Thousand Oaks, California-based Amgen, while the third, Procrit (epoetin alfa), is sold by Johnson & Johnson of New Brunswick, New Jersey. Still, Amgen's shares traded up by nearly 5% when the news broke, mainly because of what the panel didn't recommend: dropping use in chemotherapy-induced anemia. Should the FDA adopt these recommendations, Mark Schoenebaum, a biotech analyst at Bear Stearns of New York, sees a 40% drop in cancer sales for Amgen's Aranesp, which racked up total sales of $3.6 billion last year. Last month, Amgen was hurt by a black box warning on Enbrel (etanercept), for rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. The FDA said the label should carry a warning about the risks of infection, including tuberculosis. Enbrel, which inhibits tumor necrosis factor, a protein involved in inflammation, earned Amgen $3.2 billion in sales last year.