FRIDAY, April 11, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- A new regimen that allows kidney transplant patients to rely less on an immune-suppressing drug that can harm the kidneys has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the agency said Friday.
Kidney transplant patients typically take a combination of drugs to prevent organ rejection. One of them, cyclosporine, helps stem rejection but can also prevent the new kidney from functioning properly.
The FDA now says transplant patients can stop taking cyclosporine two to four months after their transplants, and substitute higher doses of a drug they already take called Rapamune (siroliumus), which is less toxic to the kidneys.
In a prepared statement, the agency says half of all new kidney patients in the United States could benefit from the therapy. The most recent figures it cites say 14,427 U.S. kidney transplants were performed in the year 2000.
The FDA cautions patients who have already taken cyclosporine for three months or more after kidney transplant surgery should not stop the medication without consulting a physician. The agency says it is now studying the effects of cyclosporine withdrawal in patients at high-risk of organ rejection.
Rapamune is manufactured by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc.
For more information about kidney transplants, visit the National Library of Medicine.
