Belatacept Early Steroid Withdrawal Trial

Alemtuzumab will be dosed on day of transplant (Study Day 1) at dose of 30 mg given intravenously (IV) over a period of 2 hours after induction of anesthesia. Methylprednisolone IV will be administered 30-60 minutes prior to the administration of alemtuzumab.

Rabbit antithymocyte globulin will be dosed post-operatively at a total cumulative dose of 4.0-6.0mg/kg given by days 5-10 post-transplant. It will be administered by local standards of care with the following recommendations. The initial intravenous intra-operative dose will be administered approximately one hour after the methylprednisolone dose. The first dose will be administered so that approximately 25% of the dose is infused prior to revascularization of the graft. Subsequent doses will be administered over a minimum of 4 hours. Premedication with acetaminophen 650mg p.o. and diphenhydramine 25mg p.o. prior to rabbit antithymocyte globulin dose will be given to reduce the incidence of infusion reactions.

Belatacept will be administered via intravenous (IV) infusion according to the FDA approved dosage recommendations. Subjects randomized to belatacept arms will receive the first dose of IV belatacept (10 mg/kg) within 12-24 hours post reperfusion. The second dose will be given between post-transplant days 4 -6 (Study Days 5-7), and then study days 14, 28, 56, and 84 (12 weeks) and then subjects will receive belatacept at the maintenance dose of 5 mg/kg every 4 weeks until completion of the trial at 24 months (104 weeks). Study Day 1 is defined as the day of transplant.

Tacrolimus will be administered orally twice daily (BID). The recommended total initial dose of tacrolimus is 0.1 mg/kg/day in two divided doses orally. Tacrolimus should be started post-transplant within 48 hours or when serum creatinine drops lower than 4mg/dL, whichever comes first. The initial targeted trough level of tacrolimus will be 8 - 12 ng/mL for Days 1 through 30, with dose reduction to achieve a 12-hour trough target of 5 - 10 ng/mL thereafter.

The first dose of mycophenolate mofetil/EC mycophenolate sodium will be administered pre-operatively. Patients receiving mycophenolate mofetil will be dosed 1000 mg twice daily (2000mg/day). Patients receiving EC mycophenolate sodium will be dosed 720 mg twice daily (1440 mg/day). Dose may be increased for African American transplant recipients to mycophenolate mofetil 1500 mg twice daily (3000mg/day) or EC mycophenolate sodium 1080 mg twice daily (2160 mg/day).

"Glucocorticoid therapy will be administered as described. Methylprednisolone will be administered on Days 1 through 3. Additional tapering doses of glucocorticoids will continue to be given until Day 5 as below:~Day 1 (day of transplant): 500mg IV prior to alemtuzumab (Group A) or rabbit antithymocyte globulin (Groups B and C) Day 2: 250mg IV Day 3: 125mg IV Day 4: 80mg p.o. Day 5: 60mg p.o. No further steroids"