New initiative aims to expand living donor kidney transplantation

LISBON, Portugal, Oct 8 (PROTEXT/PRNewswire) - Fujisawaunveiled a major international initiative on living donor kidneytransplantation. The initiative began with a day-long symposiumthat launched the 10th Congress of the European Society for OrganTransplantation (ESOT), held this year in Lisbon.The chronic shortage of organ donors is a major problem intransplantation medicine. Every year many patients die while onthe transplant waiting list, a problem that is worsening year byyear. Kidney disease is becoming much more common, andremarkable successes in transplantation continue to fuelincreasing demand, far exceeding growth in the number ofcadaveric (i.e. deceased) donors . One way of expanding the poolof potential donors in kidney transplantation would be toincrease the number of live, healthy people who donate one oftheir kidneys. Traditionally, living donor transplants weremainly carried out between close relatives, but today theprocedure is used more widely - for instance between spouses,partners or close friends.The Fujisawa initiative has been launched to generate greaterdiscussion, education and awareness of living donor kidneytransplantation in the medical community and among patients andpotential donors. The initiative is the latest step in thecompany's pioneering activities in living donor transplantation.The development by Fujisawa of Prograf(r) (tacrolimus), acornerstone immunosuppressive agent, has been an important factorin making living donor transplants from unrelated donors,including donors whose tissue type is not well matched to thepatient's, more feasible.The Lisbon symposium was entitled 'Living Donor KidneyTransplantation: Current Controversies/Innovative Ideas.' Co-chaired by Dr Robert Gaston of the University of Alabama atBirmingham, Alabama, USA, and Dr Jonas Wadström of the UniversityHospital, Uppsala, Sweden, the meeting drew together in thechairmen's words "an outstanding panel of experts in living donortransplantation from across Europe, Asia and America."Topics debated at the symposium included:* The need for expanded living donor programmes, given thechronic shortage of organs* The practicalities of finding suitable living donors* The relative merits of laparoscopic and open surgicaltechniques for the removal of donated organs* Living donor transplants from poorly matched or marginal donors* The legal, ethical and financial dimensions of living donortransplantation."A decade ago, a symposium addressing living donor issues wouldhave seemed a folly," claimed Dr Gaston. "Now, advances intransplantation therapeutics and the shortage of kidneys have ledthe community to challenge previously accepted boundaries."The living donor kidney transplant initiative will last for 3years and will involve a series educational meetings heldinternationally. The goal of the programme is to enhance theprofile of this key field, and in doing so, to help tackle thechronic organ shortage that besets modern organ transplantation.Fujisawa GmbH is a subsidiary of Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co.,Ltd., based in Osaka, Japan. Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. isamong the world's top 30 pharmaceutical companies and employsover 8000 people in Japan, Europe, North America and Asia. Sinceits launch of Prograf( in Japan in 1993, the first in the world,Fujisawa has become one of the world's leading transplant andimmunosuppression companies.Fujisawa plans to maintain its commitment to transplantation, andis dedicated both to improving the results of solid-organtransplantation and to ensuring the health and quality of life ofpatients. Prograf( is currently available in nearly 50 countriesand forms the centerpiece of Fujisawa's continuing growth.Additional information on Fujisawa GmbH can be found on theCompany's Web site at www.fujisawaeurope.com.

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