I just wanted to post this since it appears that people taking Cyclorsporine seem to be having trouble w/ increased creatinine levels. It appears that CellCept seems to better at NOT increasing creatinine levels and better able to help in such things as kidney transplants.
So, maybe if you are having such a problem and the Cyclocporine is helping, but you have increased creatinine levels, you may want to talk to your doctor about switching to CellCept??? I know that they are currently doing Phase II trials on CellCept and IC. And I have read that CellCept works a bit differently than Cyclosporine and it is suppose to be a bit better in terms of safety.
Here is what I found:
Creeping Creatinine in Failing Kidneys
Christopher Dudley, M.D., Southmead Hospital, Bristol, England presented results of a prospective, multicenter, randomized, controlled study designed to examine the effect on renal function of adding CellCept to the immunosuppressive regimen followed by cyclosporine withdrawal in patients with biopsy-proven chronic allograft (transplanted organ) dysfunction.
Patients included in this study had been treated with a cyclosporine-based immunosuppressive regimen and were experiencing progressively deteriorating renal function. For the purposes of this study, deteriorating renal function was defined as a negative slope of the reciprocal creatinine plotted against time. Creatinine is a marker of renal function. Progressive elevation of creatinine levels is a risk factor for loss of a transplanted kidney. One hundred forty-three patients were randomized to treatment with CellCept and cyclosporine withdrawal (n=73) or to continue treatment with cyclosporine (n=70) over a 34-week period.
Kidney function stabilized or improved in 58 percent of patients taking CellCept, compared to 32 percent taking cyclosporine. Overall, creatinine levels decreased in patients taking CellCept and increased in patients taking cyclosporine.
So, maybe if you are having such a problem and the Cyclocporine is helping, but you have increased creatinine levels, you may want to talk to your doctor about switching to CellCept??? I know that they are currently doing Phase II trials on CellCept and IC. And I have read that CellCept works a bit differently than Cyclosporine and it is suppose to be a bit better in terms of safety.
Here is what I found:
Creeping Creatinine in Failing Kidneys
Christopher Dudley, M.D., Southmead Hospital, Bristol, England presented results of a prospective, multicenter, randomized, controlled study designed to examine the effect on renal function of adding CellCept to the immunosuppressive regimen followed by cyclosporine withdrawal in patients with biopsy-proven chronic allograft (transplanted organ) dysfunction.
Patients included in this study had been treated with a cyclosporine-based immunosuppressive regimen and were experiencing progressively deteriorating renal function. For the purposes of this study, deteriorating renal function was defined as a negative slope of the reciprocal creatinine plotted against time. Creatinine is a marker of renal function. Progressive elevation of creatinine levels is a risk factor for loss of a transplanted kidney. One hundred forty-three patients were randomized to treatment with CellCept and cyclosporine withdrawal (n=73) or to continue treatment with cyclosporine (n=70) over a 34-week period.
Kidney function stabilized or improved in 58 percent of patients taking CellCept, compared to 32 percent taking cyclosporine. Overall, creatinine levels decreased in patients taking CellCept and increased in patients taking cyclosporine.
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