Background: Anemia is common among very low birth weight newborns and requires frequent blood tranfusions. Erythropoietin was been reported to be useful in the prevention of this anemia. Aim: To asses the benefits of early (before the third week of life) Human recombinant Erythropoietin (r-EPO) administration to reduce the requirement of blood tranfusions in very low birth weight newborns. Patients and methods: sixty newborns under 1500g of birthweight were randomly assigned to recive r-EPO (n=29) or placebo (n=31) three times per week, during four weeks. Packed red cell volume and reticulocyte counts were measured weekly. Serum erythropoietin was measured prior to eigth dose. Transfusion requirements were recorded. Results: r-EPO reduced transfusions from 1.41 ± 1.1 to 0.69 ± 1 transfusions/newborns (p<0.001). At the fourth week of treatment, reticulocyte count was 14.8 ± 7 and 6.4 ± 4.9% in the active treatment group and placebo group respectively (p<0.001). Conclusions: r-EPO reduces the requrement of transfusions in low birth weight infants (Rev Méd Chile 2000; 128: 1313-17).