Study: Rituxan Effective Against Kidney Transplant Rejection

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin report continued encouraging results treating kidney transplant rejection with Rituxan, a drug approved to treat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Reporting on the past year's results at the scientific meeeting Transplant 2001, Dr. Hans Sollinger of the University of Wisconsin said "we have a group of patients who failed to respond to conventional immunosuppressive therapies but successfully responded to Rituxan."

He said of the 20 kidney transplant patients treated with Rituxan during the past year, 18 had successful outcomes, including reversals or remission of rejection. The two failures were unrelated to Rituxan, Sollinger said.

"It looks like we have a novel drug, which is effective against vascular rejection," Sollinger said. "By using Rituxan to kill off B cells, we have fewer cells which make antibodies. We are so confident of its effectiveness, that anybody with vascular rejection is a candidate."

One year ago, the Wisconsin researchers were the first and only group to report on the use of Rituxan for treating kidney transplant rejection. The FDA approved Rituxan in 1997 for treating non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Other Sources: Transplant 2001