Recruiting
Phase 2

Everolimus

Sponsor:

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

Code:

NCT06280950

Conditions

Liver Transplant

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Everolimus

Tacrolimus (continued reduction)

Tacrolimus (maintain 50% reduction)

Everolimus

Study Details

Brief summary:

This is a study to determine the safety, efficacy, and tolerability of taking away the anti-rejection medicine, tacrolimus, in liver transplant recipients in conjunction with everolimus monotherapy to preserve renal function. Two hundred - seventy (270) subjects will be randomized 2:1 into one of two groups between 2-3 months post-transplant. Seventy participants will be placed into an observational group and will remain on their current post-transplant medications. The duration of the study from time of enrollment is 18-20 months.

Conditions

Liver Transplant

Study ID

NCT06280950

Start date

Sep 12, 2024

Status verified date

Jul, 2026

Completion date

Jun 30, 2030

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Jun 30, 2028

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Subject and/or legal guardian must be able to understand and provide informed consent
2. Adult (age greater than or equal to 18 years of age at time of informed consent) recipient of first liver transplant alone (de novo)
3. Estimated glomerular filtration rate >=30 ml/min/1.73m\^2 at enrollment using the CKD-EPI 2021 equation
4. Treatment with tacrolimus therapy, with or without mycophenolic acid derivatives and/or corticosteroids
5. Female subjects of childbearing potential with negative pregnancy test upon study entry
6. All subjects of reproductive potential agreeing to use contraception for the duration of the study
7. Previous vaccination or documented immunity to varicella, measles, hepatitis B, pneumococcus, influenza, zoster (if >=19 years old), and 2019-nCoV (COVID-19) as outlined in the DAIT Vaccination Guideline

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Inability or unwillingness of a participant to give written informed consent or comply with study protocol
2. Active unresolved systemic viral, bacterial, fungal, or parasitic infection requiring oral or intravenous anti-infective therapy
3. History of autoimmune liver disease including autoimmune hepatitis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, and/or primary biliary cirrhosis, or other contraindications to drug withdrawal
4. History of non-hepatic autoimmune disease requiring current or future systemic immunosuppressive therapy other than per study protocol
5. History post-transplant of Hepatic Artery Thrombosis or Portal Vein Thrombosis.
6. History of recurrent cirrhosis after liver transplantation.
7. Chronic use of systemic glucocorticoids, biological immunomodulatory therapy, or other immunosuppressive agents other than per study protocol
8. History of hepatitis B or C virus infection with detectable viral PCR at enrollment
9. History of prior organ transplantation (liver or other type)
10. History of >= 2 biopsy-proven acute cellular rejection episodes of any severity, >=1 moderate to severe rejection episode (histologically defined or requiring lymphodepletion therapy), or >= 1 antibody- mediated rejection episode
11. Active treatment with any mTOR-inhibitor agent (everolimus, sirolimus)
12. Contraindication to treatment with everolimus (open wound or wound infection; urine protein: creatinine ratio > 0.5; significant pancytopenia (any of the following: WBC <1.5 K/uL or ANC <1000 cells/uL or actively being treated with GCSF; Hb <8.0; platelet count <50K); serum triglycerides > 1000 mg/dL; other per PI)
13. Abnormal liver function tests on study entry: Total Bilirubin (TB)>1.5 mg/dL and Direct Bilirubin (DB) >1.0 mg/dL, Alkaline Phosphatase (AP) >200 U/L, and Alanine Aminotransaminase (ALT)>60 U/L
14. Pregnant on enrollment or plan to become pregnant during the study period
15. Participation in another clinical trial that would interfere with this study's procedures and intervention:

1. Use of investigational biologic or drug (within 8 weeks of study enrollment)
2. Additional blood collection that would exceed research blood draw limits
3. Any other procedure or intervention, in the investigator's opinion would interfere with this study
16. Received live attenuated vaccine(s) within 2 months of enrollment
17. Current, diagnosed, mental illness or current, diagnosed, or self-reported drug or alcohol abuse that, in the opinion of the investigator, would interfere with the participant's ability to comply with study requirements or that may impact the quality or interpretation of the data obtained from the study
18. Past or current medical problems or findings from physical examination or laboratory testing that are not listed above, which, in the opinion of the investigator, may pose additional risks from participation in the study, may interfere with the participant's ability to comply with study requirements or that may impact the quality or interpretation of the data obtained from the study.

Study Design

Enrollment

340 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Interventional Group 1

Participants in this group will slowly reduce their dose of tacrolimus and continue everolimus as their only immunosuppression medication.

experimental: Interventional Group 2

Participants in this group will continue to take reduced Tacrolimus and Everolimus IS regimen.

no intervention: Observational Group

Participants in this group could not tolerate the addition of everolimus. These participants will not be randomized.

  • Participants in this group will stop taking everolimus.
  • Participants in this group will resume taking their tacrolimus +/- mycophenolate compound and prednisone immunosuppression regimen.

Interventions

Everolimus

  • The first step is the addition of everolimus to participants in this group pre-randomization.
  • Participants on a mycophenolate compound will stop taking it within 7 days of initiating everolimus, either by immediate discontinuation or a 7-day taper.
  • Participants taking prednisone will taper off prednisone by 6 months post-transplant.
  • The second step is tacrolimus minimization and withdrawal to everolimus monotherapy in this group after randomization.

Tacrolimus (continued reduction)

  • Participants randomized in this cohort will have their tacrolimus dose reduced by 50% following randomization.
  • They will maintain this daily dose for 4 weeks/1 month (28-30 days). Tacrolimus withdrawal will occur in intervals of 30 days or 4 weeks.
  • Each subsequent reduction will be based on LFT stability over the prior time interval before the next reduction

Tacrolimus (maintain 50% reduction)

\- Participants randomized in this cohort maintain initial reduced dose of Tacrolimus and everolimus for study duration.

Everolimus

  • The first step is the addition of everolimus to participants in the interventional group pre-randomization.
  • Participants on a mycophenolate compound will stop taking it within 7 days of initiating everolimus, either by immediate discontinuation or a 7-day taper.
  • Participants taking prednisone will taper off prednisone by 6 months post-transplant.
  • The second step is to continue on the reduced tacrolimus and everolimus regimen.

Primary outcome measure

  • Percent change in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) by CKD-EPI 2021 equation. Between Cohorts INT-1 and INT-2 [ Time Frame: From Visit 2 to Visit 9 (12 months post-liver transplant) ]
  • Proportion of subjects with treated Biopsy Proven Acute Rejection (tBPAR) per local pathology. Between cohorts INT-1 and INT-2 [ Time Frame: From Visit 2 to Visit 9 (12 months post-liver transplant) ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Locations

Mayo Clinic Hospital Arizona (Site #: 71144)

Recruiting

Phoenix, Arizona, United States, 85054

Principal Investigator:

Hugo Vargas, MD

University of California, San Francisco (Site #: 71108)

Recruiting

San Francisco, California, United States, 94143

Principal Investigator:

Sandy Feng, MD

Northwestern University (Site #: 71110)

Recruiting

Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60611

Principal Investigator:

Justin Boike, MD

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (Site #: 71115)

Recruiting

New York, New York, United States, 10029

Principal Investigator:

Thomas Schiano, MD

Duke University Medical Center (Site #: 71139)

Recruiting

Durham, North Carolina, United States, 27710

Principal Investigator:

Matthew Kappus, MD

University of Pennsylvania (Site #: 71111)

Recruiting

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104

Principal Investigator:

Abraham Shaked, MD

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (Site #: 71170)

Recruiting

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 15260

Principal Investigator:

Scott Biggins, MD

Baylor Medical Center (Site #: 71153)

Recruiting

Dallas, Texas, United States, 75246

Principal Investigator:

Robert Rahimi, MD

More Information

Sponsor

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

Last update posted

Jul 24, 2026

Last verified

Jul, 2026

Keywords

  • Liver
  • Transplant
  • Everolimus

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-08. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) on 2026-07-24.