Dear Sir:
I am writing to introduce you to MTPPI a 501(c)3
non-profit institute established in 1986. Among
other treatments, we are interested in studying
the causal relationship between the therapeutic
intervention epoetin in treatment of chronic
anemia among dialysis patients. This could
possibly be one of the most complete stories that
will ever be told about the "clinical benefit" of
a therapeutic intervention described in the
following:

The effect of epoetin dose on hematocrit. Kidney
Int. 2008 Feb;73(3):347-53.

Dialysis facility ownership and epoetin dosing in
patients receiving hemodialysis. JAMA. 2007 Apr
18; 297(15):1667-74.

Translating epoetin research into practice: the
role of government and the use of scientific
evidence. Health Aff (Millwood). 2006 Sep-Oct;25
(5):1249-59.

Factors influencing route of administration for
epoetin treatment among hemodialysis patients in
the United States. Am J Kidney Dis. 2006 Jul;48
(1):77-87.

Hematocrit was not validated as a surrogate end
point for survival among epoetin-treated
hemodialysis patients. J Clin Epidemiol. 2004
Oct;57(10):1086-95.

Epoetin requirements predict mortality in
hemodialysis patients. Am J Kidney Dis. 2004
Nov;44(5):866-76.

Challenges in establishing a clinically and
scientifically robust Epoetin policy. Clin
Nephrol. 2004 Jul;62(1):69-70.

We also have an epoetin safety paper in the works
addressing the relationship between mortality and
high dose levels of this drug. If you are
interested in receiving any of these papers
and/or hearing more about this topic, let me
know. If you know of groups interested in this
topic, I''d be happy to talk with them about the
implications of our research.

Sincerely,

Dennis J. Cotter
President
Medical Technology and Practice Patterns
Institute, Inc.
4733 Bethesda Ave., Suite 510
Bethesda, MD 20814
(301) 652-4005
fax: (301) 652-8335
dcott@mtppi.org