Drug maker Amgen Inc. reported Friday that its popular drug Aranesp increases the risk of death when used by those with a certain kind of cancer. The drug increases the amount of oxygen-carrying red blood cells. In November, The New England Journal of Medicine found that kidney disease patients taking a similar drug developed by Johnson & Johnson called Procrit had a 34 percent higher risk of heart problems. Almost 1 million Americans take Aranesp or similar drugs Procrit and Epogen, another Amgen product. News of the safety issue caused the the Thousand Oaks company’s stock to drop 5 percent in trading Friday. Amgen on Thursday reported that its fourth quarter profit increased just 1 percent to $833 million compared to the same period a year ago. The company said the lower results were related to employee stock options and expenses related to three biotech company acquisitions. Full-year profit dropped 20 percent to $2.95 billion, or $2.48 per diluted share, compared $3.67 billion for 2005. Full year 2006 revenue increased 15 percent to $14.3 billion; fourth quarter earnings increased 17 percent to $3.8 billion.
