Barbara Haber's group at Merck Research Laboratories, Rahway, NJ completed this study. The standard of care for CMV infection prophylaxis in high-risk kidney transplant recipients is valganciclovir (Roche). FDA recently approved letermovir (Prevymis, Merck) a new CMV antiviral for prophylaxis in this high-risk population. Letermovir prophylaxis was not associated with the development of letermovir resistance, supporting its low risk of resistance in high-risk kidney transplant recipients, while valganciclovir resistance was detected in some participants but did not always impact treatment response.
- Letermovir prophylaxis was not associated with the development of letermovir resistance-associated substitutions (RASs) in kidney transplant recipients.
- Valganciclovir RASs were detected in 15 participants, primarily after completion or early discontinuation of prophylaxis.
- The most common CMV glycoprotein B (gB) genotypes were gB1 and gB3, and there was no clear association between gB genotype and the presence of RASs.
Strizki JM, Diamond TL, Teal VL, Gilbert CL, Wang W, Stauffer N, Haber BA. Cytomegalovirus Antiviral Resistance Among Kidney Transplant Recipients in a Phase 3 Trial of Letermovir vs Valganciclovir Prophylaxis. J Infect Dis. 2024 Dec 16;230(6):e1287-e1298. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiae287. PMID: 38853607; PMCID: PMC11646593. https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/230/6/e1287/7690303?login=false
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