Doctors perform world first kidney transplants using new anti-rejection drug

Doctors at the Irccs Policlinico di Sant'Orsola in Bologna, Italy, successfully performed kidney transplants on two patients who previously had almost no chance of receiving a compatible organ.

The medical team used a new experimental drug called Cizutamig, a bispecific antibody developed by the American startup Candid Therapeutics. Professor Gaetano La Manna directed the kidney transplant center where the patients received the medication under a compassionate use protocol to prevent organ rejection.

The two patients, a 54-year-old man from Ravenna and a 51-year-old woman from Bologna, had been on waiting lists for 13 years because they were incompatible with every donor tested in the country. The drug worked by removing the cells that produce antibodies responsible for organ rejection. Both patients show excellent organ function several months after the procedure. This medical advancement could provide new opportunities for complex transplant cases, which affect about 30 percent of patients waiting for a transplant.

Professor La Manna expressed optimism that this technique could eventually be used for other procedures, such as heart transplants.