Alefacept in Kidney Transplant Recipients

Summary

Alefacept, also known as Amevive®, is a medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States and other countries for the treatment of psoriasis, which is a chronic inflammatory immunological skin condition that can result in chronic dry, red patches that are covered in scales. Alefacept is approved by the FDA for the treatment of psoriasis but not as an anti-rejection medication in transplant patients. It is now being tested in new kidney transplant patients as a supplement to other approved anti-rejection drugs. Alefacept will be used as an investigational drug in this study. The reason for this study is to test whether using Alefacept will inhibit T cells, known as memory cells, using a test named ELISPOT-IFN. In patients with psoriasis, Alefacept inhibits these memory cells. If memory cells specific to your donor can be inhibited by this drug, it might prevent rejection and promote acceptance of the transplanted kidney in a unique manner.

Timeline

Start

2011-10

Primary completion

2013-10

Completion

2014-10

Drugs

Indications

No indication recorded.