PHILADELPHIA—Enteric-coated mycophenolate sodium (EC-MPS) and mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) are associated with similar outcomes in renal transplant patients receiving tacrolimus, according to study findings presented at Kidney Week 2011.
The findings, which are from an analysis of data from 901 patients in the Mycophenolate Acid Observational Renal Transplant (MORE) Registry funded by Novartis, showed that patients treated with EC-MPS or MMF had no significant differences with respect to concomitant immunosuppression, the incidence of biopsy-proven acute rejection at one year (9.6% for EC-MPS and 8.0% for MMF), graft survival at one year (96.9% and 97.6%, respectively), and mean serum creatinine at one year (1.49 mL/dL in both groups). A higher proportion of patients treated with EC-MPS were maintained on at least the full recommended dose (1,440 mg/day or higher) compared with subjects receiving MMF (2,000 mg/day or higher), a difference that was significant to month 6 post-transplant, Anthony J. Langone, MD, of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., and colleagues reported.
“Despite the higher dosing in the EC-MPS group, there were no statistical differences in the incidence of adverse events between EC-MPS and MMF,” the authors concluded in their poster.
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They also stated that achieve of higher mycophenolic acid dosing with EC-MPS early post-transplant “may improve subsequent graft outcomes but longer follow-up and additional studies are required.”
