Amgen started the first clinical trial of Epoetin alfa in late 1985 under the aegis of Drs. Joseph Eschbach and John Adamson at the Northwest Kidney Center in Seattle. Over the next year, the small phase 1/2 clinical trial confirmed that therapeutic doses of recombinant human erythropoietin stimulated consistent increases in patients’ hematocrit levels. Furthermore, the requirement for maintenance blood transfusions for the dialysis patients treated was eliminated.
Reports of EPOGEN®'s ability to improve anemia associated with kidney failure first appeared in the January 8, 1987, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Included was a review of the phase 1/2 trial and an editorial that pointed to "convincing evidence for the therapeutic effectiveness of recombinant erythropoietin in anemic patients on long-term dialysis." The author, Dr. Allan Erslev, said these clinical trials "fully confirm our expectation that erythropoietin can increase not only the hemoglobin concentration, but also the well-being of patients on dialysis."
The FDA approved EPO in 1989, it was in wide use in 1990/