Inhaled ciclosporin offers lung function benefits to patients after lung transplantation
Lung transplant patients who receive inhaled ciclosporin have better lung function two years after surgery compared with patients given placebo.
Latest data from a US trial into the novel formulation of the anti-rejection
drug were presented at last week’s American
Thoracic Society meeting held in San Diego, California. In the trial, patients were randomised
to inhale either 300mg of aerosolised ciclosporin (28 patients) or placebo
(30 patients) three days a week for the first two years after transplantation,
in addition to receiving oral anti-rejection drugs.
The inhaled drug extended periods of chronic rejection-free survival
and patients who received placebo suffered declines in lung function
four times greater than those inhaling the drug (P=0.009). This is the
first trial to use the drug — delivered via a nebuliser — straight
after surgery.
Lead author Aldo Iacono, medical director of lung transplantation at
the University of Maryland, said: “Lung transplantation is fraught
with complications — with poor outcomes compared to heart, kidney
or liver — and chronic rejection is the Achilles heel. This has
the potential to revolutionise the area but what’s lacking is a
better, larger trial.” |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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