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Active, not recruitingNCT04720326Updated Feb 15, 2024

Bioavailability and Practicability of Envarsus Versus Advagraf in Liver Transplant Recipients

A Phase 4 interventional study of Tacrolimus Pill and Tacrolimus capsule in Prophylaxis Against Liver Transplant Rejection, sponsored by Edward Geissler. Active, not recruiting at 15 sites in Germany. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-02-15.

Sponsored by Edward Geissler · Phase 4, Interventional, and Prevention

Phase
Phase 4
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
268
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Trial participants are randomised within 14 days after liver transplantation surgery in a 1:1 ratio to two alternative treatment arms containing either Envarsus® (test arm) or Advagraf® (comparator arm) as first-line calcineurin inhibitor within a standard-of-care immunosuppressive regimen. Tacrolimus blood trough levels and drug doses are monitored at regular intervals to assess drug bioavailability and the ease and accuracy of achieving the targeted blood concentration range. Dose-normalised trough level (concentration/dose ratio) is measured at 12 weeks post-randomisation as an estimate of tacrolimus bioavailability. It is hypothesised that treatment with Envarsus® will confer a superior (higher) C/D ratio after 12 weeks of therapy owing to the superior bioavailability of this galenic drug formulation (proprietary MeltDose® technology). To test whether an elevated C/D ratio is also associated with improved clinical outcomes, a range of other pharmacokinetic, efficacy and safety variables are evaluated at 10 study visits spanning a period of 3 years.

02

Conditions studied

  • Prophylaxis Against Liver Transplant Rejection

Keywords

  • Liver transplantation
  • Tacrolimus
  • Concentration/dose ratio
  • Immunosuppression
03

In context

Lead sponsor

Edward Geissler is the lead sponsor of 2 studies on the registry; 1 is open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  1. Signed and dated written informed consent
  2. Adult (≥18 years old) male or female
  3. Recipient of a whole liver transplant from a deceased donor or a split liver transplant from a deceased or living donor
  4. ABO blood type compatible with the organ donor
  5. Able to swallow an oral formulation of tacrolimus in tablet or capsule form

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Multi-organ transplantation
  2. Any previous organ allograft transplantation
  3. Biopsy-proven acute rejection that is ongoing at the time of randomisation
  4. Occurrence of post-transplant thrombosis, occlusion or stent placement in any major hepatic arteries, hepatic veins, portal vein or inferior vena cava
  5. History of extra-hepatic malignancy that could not be curatively treated
  6. Hepatocellular carcinoma with extra-hepatic spread or macrovascular invasion
  7. Uncontrolled systemic infection
  8. Requirement of life support measures such as ventilation or vasopressor agents (>20 µg/kg body weight/h) at the time of randomisation
  9. Known contraindication or hypersensitivity to tacrolimus, and/or to any of the excipients listed in section 6.1 of the Summary of Product Characteristics of both Envarsus® and Advagraf®, and/or to any other macrolides
  10. Ongoing, planned or foreseeable use of cyclosporine or any tacrolimus preparation other than Envarsus® or Advagraf® (except for immediate-release formulations administered before randomisation)
  11. Any prolonged-release tacrolimus treatment prior to randomisation
  12. Pregnant or nursing (lactating) female, where pregnancy is defined as the state of a female after conception and until the termination of gestation, confirmed by a positive human chorionic gonadotropin laboratory test
  13. Female of child-bearing potential, defined as physiologically capable of becoming pregnant, unless using a reliable method of contraception
  14. Participation in another interventional clinical trial during the time period from randomisation to study end, if the trial is testing an Investigational Medicinal Product or if the intervention and/or follow-up requirements of the trial impede or interfere with either the objectives of EnGraft or the treatment / follow-up requirements of EnGraft
  15. Any condition or factor which, in the judgement of the investigator, would place the subject at undue risk, invalidate communication with the investigator or study team, or hamper compliance with the trial protocol or follow-up schedule
  16. Inability to freely give informed consent (e.g. individuals under legal guardianship)
05

Study design

Phase
Phase 4
Primary purpose
Prevention
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
268 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Envarsus®

    Participants take prolonged-release tacrolimus tablets orally once daily and additionally receive standard-of-care immunosuppressive background therapy as per routine practice.

    Drug: Tacrolimus Pill

  • Active comparator
    Advagraf®

    Participants take prolonged-release tacrolimus capsules orally once daily and additionally receive standard-of-care immunosuppressive background therapy as per routine practice.

    Drug: Tacrolimus capsule

Interventions

  • DrugTacrolimus Pill

    Envarsus® tablets dosed to achieve and maintain whole blood trough levels of tacrolimus within a patient-specific therapeutic range (interval of 3 ng/ml) that lies within a wider reference range of 3-12 ng/ml.

    Also known as: Envarsus

  • DrugTacrolimus capsule

    Advagraf® capsules dosed to achieve and maintain whole blood trough levels of tacrolimus within a patient-specific therapeutic range (interval of 3 ng/ml) that lies within a wider reference range of 3-12 ng/ml.

    Also known as: Advagraf

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Dose-normalised blood trough level of tacrolimus (concentration/dose ratio)

    To calculate C/D ratio, "concentration" is the blood trough level of tacrolimus measured in a blood sample collected immediately prior to drug dosing on the day of the 12-week trial visit and "dose" is the daily dose taken by the patient on the day prior to the visit. C/D ratio is measured as a surrogate for tacrolimus bioavailability (i.e. systemic exposure per mg of drug).

    Time frame: 12 weeks post-randomisation

Secondary outcomes

  1. Number of IMP dose adjustments

    Time frame: Until 12 weeks post-randomisation

  2. Time to reach the first defined range in target trough level

    Time frame: Time period measured in days, assessed at 12 weeks post-randomisation

  3. Number of measurements above and below the first defined range in target trough level

    Time frame: Time period measured in days, assessed at 12 weeks post-randomisation

  4. Dose-normalised trough level (C/D ratio) during long-term follow-up

    Time frame: 1, 2 and 3 years post-randomisation

  5. Mean tacrolimus trough level and inter-patient variability (range) of tacrolimus trough levels

    Time frame: 1, 2, 4 and 12 weeks post-randomisation

  6. Inter-patient variability (range) of tacrolimus total daily dose

    Time frame: Until 12 weeks post-randomisation

  7. Proportion of patients with trough levels lower, within, or higher than the standard reference range

    Time frame: 1, 2, 4 and 12 weeks post-randomisation

  8. Incidence and severity of clinically-confirmed biopsy-proven acute rejection

    Time frame: 12 weeks and 1, 2, 3 years post-randomisation

  9. Incidence of graft failure (defined as necessity for re-transplantation)

    Time frame: 12 weeks and 1, 2, 3 years post-randomisation

  10. Incidence of death (for any reason)

    Time frame: 12 weeks and 1, 2, 3 years post-randomisation

  11. Treatment failure rate (composite endpoint of biopsy-proven acute rejection, graft failure or death)

    Time frame: 12 weeks and 1, 2, 3 years post-randomisation

  12. Time to treatment failure (composite endpoint of biopsy-proven acute rejection, graft failure or death) after randomisation

    Time frame: 3 years post-randomisation

  13. Incidence of acute rejections requiring treatment

    Time frame: 12 weeks post-randomisation

  14. Incidence of multiple rejection episodes

    Time frame: 12 weeks post-randomisation

  15. Change versus baseline in laboratory measures of liver function (aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, gamma-glutamyltransferase, bilirubin, albumin, cholinesterase, INR)

    Time frame: 12 weeks and 1, 2, 3 years post-randomisation

  16. Change versus baseline in laboratory measures of metabolic profile (triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, HbA1c, fasting plasma glucose)

    Time frame: 12 weeks and 1, 2, 3 years post-randomisation

  17. Change versus baseline in laboratory measures of renal function (creatinine, estimated glomerular filtration rate)

    Time frame: 12 weeks and 1, 2, 3 years post-randomisation

  18. Incidence and type of malignancies diagnosed in trial participants

    Time frame: 1, 2 and 3 years post-randomisation

  19. Incidence and type of infections (hepatitis C virus, hepatitis B virus, cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus) experienced by trial participants

    Time frame: 1, 2 and 3 years post-randomisation

  20. Degree of liver fibrosis (fibroscan or biopsy)

    Time frame: 12 weeks and 1, 2, 3 years post-randomisation

  21. Incidence, type, severity, seriousness and causality of adverse events (AEs)

    Time frame: 3 years post-randomisation

  22. Change versus baseline in heart rate

    Time frame: 3 years post-randomisation

  23. Change versus baseline in blood pressure

    Time frame: 3 years post-randomisation

  24. Change versus baseline in body weight

    Time frame: 3 years post-randomisation

  25. Incidence of de novo occurrence of tremor or vision impairments

    Time frame: 3 years post-randomisation

  26. Incidence of post-transplant diabetes mellitus and post-transplant hyperglycaemia

    Time frame: 12 weeks and 1, 2, 3 years post-randomisation

  27. Dose-normalised trough level (C/D ratio)

    Time frame: 12 weeks post-transplantation

  28. Number and doses of immunosuppressive medications (incl. other tacrolimus formulations)

    Time frame: At 12 weeks and after 12 weeks (if applicable)

  29. Recurrence of primary hepatic disease

    Time frame: 3 years post-randomisation

  30. Incidence of donor-specific antibodies

    Time frame: 12 weeks and 1, 2, 3 years post-randomisation

  31. Continuation rate

    Time frame: 12 weeks post-randomisation

  32. Incidence and time to study treatment discontinuation

    Time frame: 3 years post-randomisation

  33. Incidence of patient withdrawal from the study

    Time frame: 3 years post-randomisation

  34. Time to patient withdrawal from the study

    Time frame: 3 years post-randomisation

  35. Reason for patient withdrawal from the study

    Time frame: 3 years post-randomisation

07

Study locations

15 sites
  • University Hospital Aachen
    Aachen, 52074, Germany
  • Charite - University Medicine Berlin
    Berlin, 13353, Germany
  • University Hospital Essen
    Essen, 45147, Germany
  • University Hospital Frankfurt
    Frankfurt, 60590, Germany
  • University Hospital Hamburg Eppendorf
    Hamburg, 20246, Germany
  • Hannover Medical School
    Hannover, 30625, Germany
  • University Hospital Heidelberg
    Heidelberg, 69120, Germany
  • University Hospital Jena
    Jena, 07747, Germany
  • University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein - Campus Kiel
    Kiel, 24105, Germany
  • University Hospital Leipzig
    Leipzig, 04103, Germany
  • University Hospital Magdeburg
    Magdeburg, 39120, Germany
  • University Hospital Mainz
    Mainz, 55131, Germany
  • University Hospital Muenster
    Muenster, 48149, Germany
  • University Hospital Regensburg
    Regensburg, 93053, Germany
  • University Hospital Tuebingen
    Tuebingen, 72076, Germany
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Feb 15, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04720326
Lead sponsor
Edward Geissler
Collaborators
Chiesi Pharmaceuticals GmbH, Excelya
Responsible party
Edward Geissler (Head of the Department of Experimental Surgery, University of Regensburg) — Sponsor-investigator
First posted
Jan 22, 2021
Start date
Dec 23, 2020
Primary completion
Jan 25, 2024
Completion
Oct 2026 (estimated)
Last update
Feb 15, 2024

Study contacts

Hans J. Schlitt, MD
principal investigator · University Hospital Regensburg

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in Feb 2024. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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