Combination treatment with sirolimus and ciclosporin in clinical renal transplantation: A comprehensive review

Sirolimus is a potent new immunosuppressive agent that has been shown to reduce the incidence of acute rejection episodes among renal transplant recipients as well as provide a unique approach to optimize treatment outcomes in difficult transplant situations. Owing to its properties as a critical-dose drug, therapeutic concentration monitoring of sirolimus readily compensates for intra- and interpatient variability and drug interactions with a variety of other agents such as ciclosporin. This review summarizes the results that demonstrate the efficacy of sirolimus in combination treatment with ciclosporin in human renal transplantation, as well as its potential in alternative therapeutic modalities in a broad range of transplant recipients. The clinical trials for SDZ-RAD, a macrocyclic lactone immunosuppressant structurally similar to sirolimus, also are reviewed herein. SDZ-RAD was developed in an attempt to improve the pharmacokinetic characteristics of sirolimus, particularly to increase the extent and reproducibility of its oral bioavailability and to reduce the extensive tissue distribution by virtue of its greater polarity. (c) 2001 Prous Science. All rights reserved.