How Can CellCept Help Scleroderma Patients?

CellCept is a prescription drug made by Genentech that’s primarily used by patients who have had a liver, kidney or heart transplant. Used in conjunction with other medications like corticosteroids and cyclosporines, CellCept (or mycophenolate mofetil) helps to prevent the body’s immune system from rejecting the transplanted organ.

MORE: Many scleroderma patients needing kidney transplants do well.

CellCept is available in three different forms — capsule, tablet and oral suspension — and can be used for both children and adults.

However, CellCept could soon be used for other areas of treatment as well as organ transplants. Recent clinical trials for CellCept have found that it can also be effective at reducing skin thickening in scleroderma patients. A trial with 300 adults using CellCept over seven years found that skin thickening had been considerably reduced compared to participants on the trial who were given a placebo. Find out more about this study here.

In addition, two separate clinical trials have found that CellCept may be a useful treatment for scleroderma-related lung disease. One clinical trial found that CellCept helped to slow down lung decline, particularly in the first year of treatment. A two-year trial found that CellCept helped to improve lung function with better gas exchange and less shortness of breath in scleroderma patients with lung disease, the drug also improved skin disease compared to those taking a placebo. Find out more about this study here.

MORE: Comparison of CellCept and Cytoxan for scleroderma lung fibrosis found both equally effective.

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