Cheshire’s Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. presented preliminary data Tuesday in Austria that it says is an encouraging sign its blockbuster drug Soliris may be a viable treatment to prevent kidney transplant rejections.
The Phase 2 study seeks to evaluate Soliris as an investigational therapy to prevent acute antibody-mediated rejection, or AMR, in sensitized deceased-donor kidney transplant patients.
Soliris, which is approved in a number of countries for treatment of several blood disorders, is not yet approved to prevent organ transplant rejections.
The data presented yesterday showed that 5 of 47 patients, or 10.6 percent, experienced post-transplantation treatment failure nine weeks after surgery, lower than the expected 30 percent. The company said one patient died due to post-operative myocardial infarction deemed not related to Alexion’s drug.
About a third of kidney transplant candidates on waiting lists have antibodies to potential donors, meaning their bodies would likely reject a kidney, Alexion said.
There are no approved treatments to prevent acute AMR.
