It is a new shortage which worries both patients and health authorities. As our colleagues from RMC indicate, many people who have undergone a kidney transplant no longer have access to Belataceptan unequaled “anti-rejection” drug (source 1).
This drug, marketed by the BMS laboratory, has the advantage of not be toxic to the kidneyd’improve the function of transplanted kidneysfrom reduce the occurrence of high blood pressure and diabetes (very common with other anti-rejection treatments) and prevent the formation of antibodies directed against the graft (causing chronic rejection). It is administered by infusion, lasting 30 minutes, every four weeks.
But according to our colleagues from RMC, the BMS laboratory won’t be able to produce enough for at least a year. Many patient associations have therefore stepped up to the plate, in particular the Renaloo association, for which the shortage “is now such that it endangers the very continuation of treatments already initiated” (source 2). Besides the alternative treatments to Belatacept are poorly tolerated and degrade the transplanted kidneys.
Clearly, that worries me. This means that already, before being transplanted,…