MEDCAC Fails to Vote on ESAs for Kidney Transplants

A lack of evidence led the Medicare Evidence Development & Coverage Advisory Committee (MEDCAC) to avoid voting on whether erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) are necessary to improve renal transplant graft survival in patients with chronic kidney disease as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services decides whether to cover the drugs. The committee did vote that panel reactive antibody assays, which measure anti-human antibodies in the blood, predict renal transplant graft survival. This has been cited as an argument that ESAs increase survival following kidney transplant.
Washington Drug Letter