Promising phase II results for immunosuppressant
FTY720, an immunosuppressant drug undergoing phase
II trials, appears to be as effective as currently available drugs but
could have a different mode of action.
The drug is being investigated for its use in kidney
transplantation. Dr Volker Brinkmann, from Novartis, United States, presented
data from early clinical analyses at a scientific meeting in Istanbul
on 22 August. He said that FTY720 seemed to suppress migration of lymphocytes
to sites of inflammation or to graft organs, without impairing T-cell
activation to systemic viral infection, “suggesting a mechanism not observed
with any classical immunosuppressant”.
In a dose-finding study presented at the same meeting,
FTY720 was compared with mycophenolate mofetil (CellCept) in 208 patients
who had had a renal transplant and who were also receiving treatment with
ciclosporin and corticosteroids.
A total of 17.1 per cent of patients who received
2g mycophenolate mofetil per day suffered biopsy-confirmed acute rejection
of the graft. The number of similar rejections occurring in the group
given FTY720 varied with the dose given but was lowest (9.8 per cent)
in those given a loading dose of 4mg followed by 2.5mg daily.
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