New hope for kidney transplant patients

Daily Mail
A DRUG made from a fungus grown on Easter Island in the Pacific is set to dramatically improve the long-term survival rate of kidney transplant patients. For years, surgeons have had to accept that around 10pc of their patients will lose their new kidney within a year through the body's rejection of the organ.

Now this figure could be reduced by as much as two-thirds with the introduction of Rapumune - called after the native name of Easter Island - which helps prevent rejection and has the additional benefit no toxic side-effects.

Kidney transplant patients have to take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of their lives to stop the body rejecting the organ. The trouble is, these drugs are so powerful that they can also damage the kidney - reducing its lifespan by as much as 50pc.

At present, 10pc of kidney patients are back on dialysis within a year because of organ rejection, and 35-40pc within five years, either because of the rejection, or because of the damage caused to the kidneys by the powerful anti-rejection drugs.
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