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Summary: The objectives of this study were to assess long‐term graft survival, patient survival, renal function, and acute rejections in de novo kidney transplant recipients, treated with once‐daily prolonged‐release tacrolimus‐based therapy. The study was a 5‐year non‐interventional prospective follow‐up of patients from the ADHERE study, a Phase IV 12‐month open‐label assessment of patients randomized to receive prolonged‐release tacrolimus in combination with mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) (Arm 1) or sirolimus (Arm 2). From 838 patients in the randomized study, 587 were included in the long‐term follow‐up, of whom 510 completed the study at year 5. At 1 year post‐transplant, graft and patient survival rates were 93.0% and 97.8%, respectively, and at 5 years were 84.0% and 90.8%, respectively. Cox proportional hazards analysis showed no association between graft loss, initial randomized treatment arm, donor age, donor type, or sex. The 5‐year acute rejection‐free survival rate was 77.4%, and biopsy‐confirmed acute rejection‐free survival rate was 86.0%. Renal function remained stable over the follow‐up period: mean ± SD eGFR 4‐variable modification diet in renal disease formula (MDRD4) was 52.3 ± 21.6 ml/min/1.73 m2 at 6 months and 52.5 ± 23.0 ml/min/1.73 m2 at 5 years post‐transplant. These findings support the role of long‐term once‐daily prolonged‐release tacrolimus‐based immunosuppression, in combination with sirolimus or MMF, for renal transplant recipients in routine clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness worldwide. However, its surgical treatment, in particular via trabeculectomy, can be complicated by fibrosis. In current clinical practice, application of the drug, Mitomycin C, prevents or delays fibrosis, but can lead to additional side effects, such as bleb leakage and hypotony. Previous in silico drug screening and in vitro testing has identified the known antibiotic, josamycin, as a possible alternative antifibrotic medication with potentially fewer side effects. However, a suitable ocular delivery mechanism for the hydrophobic drug to the surgical site does not yet exist. Therefore, the focus of this paper is the development of an implantable drug delivery system for sustained delivery of josamycin after glaucoma surgery based on crosslinked γ-cyclodextrin. γ-Cyclodextrin is a commonly used solubilizer which was shown to complex with josamycin, drastically increasing the drug's solubility in aqueous solutions. A simple γ-cyclodextrin crosslinking method produced biocompatible hydrogels well-suited for implantation. The crosslinked γ - cyclodextrin retained the ability to form complexes with josamycin, resulting in a 4-fold higher drug loading efficiency when compared to linear dextran hydrogels, and prolonged drug release over 4 days.