New Drug Developments In Transplant Medicine

Specialists in organ and tissue transplantation met in Kyoto, Japan earlier this month to discuss new developments in the field. This article covers some of the key drug developments detailed at the XVth World Congress of the Transplantation Society.

According to results of several studies released at the congress, new drugs and combination therapies are set to revolutionize the management of transplant patients. Three important new drugs are Sandoz' new formulation of ciclosporin, Sandimmun Neoral, ciclosporin G and Fujisawa's Prograf (tacrolimus; FK-506), according to Paul Keown of the British Columbia Center for Transplantation Immunology in Vancouver, Canada.

The Sandimmun Neoral formulation achieves a higher level of drug absorption than conventional ciclosporin A, and a review of studies reveals that the drug is easier to use, and may result in fewer rejection episodes, and thus fewer hospitalizations and reduced costs to health services. Early results with ciclosporin G also indicate that the drug has a lower rate of toxicity and achieves fewer graft rejections. In a study of 195 kidney transplant patients, nine out of 65 ciclosporin A-treated patients lost their grafts, compared to eight out of 65 for those on low dose ciclosporin G and just two out of 65 for those on high doses of the drug. "The next step will be to combine the greater efficacy of ciclosporin G in the microemulsion formulation of Sandimmun Neoral to get an even better effect," said Dr Keown.