National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
This is a phase 2, prospective, multi-center, open-label clinical trial. Sixty-six (66) primary heart transplant recipients will be randomized (1:2) to receive either standard-of-care, tacrolimus-based immunosuppression, or a belatacept-based regimen with gradual tacrolimus withdrawal over 9-months post-transplant. Both study arms will receive CellCept® (mycophenolate mofetil- MMF) or Myfortic® (mycophenolate sodium). Corticosteroids will be continued throughout the study in the belatacept arm. The primary objective is to evaluate whether NULOJIX® (belatacept), when implemented with gradual tacrolimus withdrawal over 9 months, is safe with respect to preventing the composite endpoint of acute cellular rejection (ACR) \>= International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) 2R, hemodynamic compromise rejection in the absence of a biopsy or histological rejection, re-transplantation, and death at 18 months post-transplant.
Inclusion Criteria: Study entry 1. Subject must be able to understand the purpose of the study and be willing to participate and provide written consent 2. Recipient of a primary heart transplant (heart transplant only) 3. Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) seropositive (VCA IgG, EBNA IgG). If EBNA is not available, enrollment may proceed but the result must be available prior to randomization. 4. Agreement to use contraception; according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Women's Health (http://www.fda.gov/birthcontrol), there are a number of birth control methods that are more than…
Patients will receive 10mg/kg on Day 3 post-transplant (72 hours +/- 12 hours post-transplant) Day 7 post-transplant (+/- 6 hours) Day 16 (End of Week 2 after 1st dose of belatacept) post-transplant (+/- 2 days) Day 30 (End of Week 4 after 1st dose of belatacept) post-transplant (+/- 3 days) Day 58 (Week 8) post-transplant (+/- 3 days) Day 86 (Week 12) post-transplant (+/- 3 days) Patients will receive 5mg/kg Every 28 days (+/- 3 days) thereafter
Prograf (tacrolimus) or tacrolimus generic
CellCept (mycophenolate mofetil- MMF), or Myfortic (mycophenolate sodium)
Prednisone