BMS Kidney Transplant Drug Approved

Bristol-Myers Squibb received approval from the FDA for Nulojix (belatacept) to prevent acute rejection in adult patients who have had a kidney transplant.

Nulojix is a selective T-cell costimulation blocker. The drug helps to prevent organ rejection after a kidney transplant. Without immunosuppression, the body can reject a transplanted organ because the immune system recognizes the new organ as foreign (transplant rejection).

Nulojix was evaluated in two open-label, randomized, multicenter, controlled Phase III studies that enrolled more than 1,200 patients and compared two dose regimens of Nulojix with another immunosuppressant, cyclosporine. These trials demonstrated that the recommended Nulojix regimen is safe and effective for the prevention of acute organ rejection.