FDA Approves Anti-Rejection Drug For Kidney Transplant Recipients

The Food and Drug Administration June 15 approved Nulojix (belatacept), a drug for treating acute organ rejection in adults who have had a kidney transplant.

The drug was approved for use with other immunosuppressants, specifically basiliximab, mycophenolate mofetil, and corticosteroids, FDA said.

If transplant patients do not receive immunosuppressants, their bodies can reject the donor organ, which the immune system recognizes as foreign, FDA explained. “By preventing rejection, Nulojix, given through 30 minute intravenous infusions, works with other immunosuppressants to keep the new kidney working,” FDA said.

Nulojix is marketed by Princeton, N.J.-based Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.

“Nulojix is a new ...