Reduced Incidence of Cytomegalovirus Infection in Kidney Transplant Recipients Receiving Everolimus and Reduced Tacrolimus Doses

This study compared the incidence of CMV infection/disease in de novo kidney transplant recipients receiving everolimus or mycophenolate and no CMV pharmacological prophylaxis. We randomized 288 patients to receive a single 3 mg/kg dose of antithymocyte globulin, tacrolimus, everolimus, and prednisone (r‐ATG/EVR, n = 85); basiliximab, tacrolimus, everolimus, and prednisone (BAS/EVR, n = 102); or basiliximab, tacrolimus, mycophenolate, and prednisone (BAS/MPS, n = 101). The primary end‐point was the incidence of first CMV infection/disease in the intention‐to‐treat population at 12 months. Patients treated with r‐ATG/EVR showed a 90% proportional reduction (4.7% vs. 37.6%, HR 0.10, 95% CI 0.037–0.29; p