Inclusion criteria

• Male or female of 18-65 years old
• Patient who has received a primary kidney transplant from a cadaveric, living unrelated or non-HLA identical living related donor
• Recipient of a kidney with a cold ischemia time (CIT) < 30 hours
• Recipient of a kidney from a donor 10-65 years old
• Patient able to receive the first dose of tacrolimus within 24 hours from graft reperfusion
• Female capable of becoming pregnant must have a negative pregnancy test and is required to practice a medically approved method of birth control for the duration of the study and for a period of three months following discontinuation of investigational drug
• Patient willing and capable of giving written informed consent for study participation and able to participate in the study for 12 months

Exclusion criteria

• Patient who has previously received an organ transplant
• Recipient of multiple organ transplants
• Recipient of a kidney transplant from a non heart-beating donor
• Recipient of donor specific transfusions
• Recipient of A-B-O incompatible transplant or T-cell cross-match positive transplant
• Patient with current Panel Reactive Antibodies (PRA) level ≥ 50%
• Recipient of a kidney from a donor who tests positive for hepatitis B surface antigen or hepatitis C antibodies
• Patient who is human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive
• Patient who has a positive hepatitis C serology or who is hepatitis B surface antigen positive with evidence of liver injury as indicated by AST/ALT levels ≥2.5 times UNL. Viral serology results obtained within 6 months prior to the administration of the first dose of Certican™ are acceptable
• Patient with severe hypercholesterolemia (350 mg/dL, 9.1 mmoL/dL) or hypertriglyceridemia ( 500 mg/dL, 5.6 mmoL/L)
• Patient with white blood cell (WBC) count 3,000/mm3 or with platelet count 75,000/mm3

• Patient with any severe allergy requiring acute (within 4 weeks of baseline) * chronic treatment or

  • with hypersensitivity to drugs similar to Certican™ (e.g. macrolides)
• Patient who has been treated with an immunosuppressive drug or an investigational drug within 4 weeks prior to the administration of the first dose of Certican
• Patient with uncontrolled infection
• Patient with any surgical or medical condition, other than the current transplant, which in the opinion of the investigator, precludes enrollment in this trial
• Patient with a known malignancy or a history of malignancy within last 5 years other than successfully treated localized basal or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin
• Abnormal physical or laboratory findings of clinical significance within 2 weeks prior to the administration of the first dose of Certican™ which at investigator's discretion would interfere with the objectives of the study
• Breast feeding women
• Patient with symptoms of significant somatic or mental illness or with unresolved history of drug or alcohol abuse
• Patient unable to cooperate or communicate with the investigator