| E.1 Medical condition or disease under investigation | 
| E.1.1 | Medical condition(s) being investigated |  | 
| E.1.1.1 | Medical condition in easily understood language |  | 
| E.1.1.2 | Therapeutic area | Diseases [C] - Immune System Diseases [C20] | 
| MedDRA Classification | 
| E.1.3 | Condition being studied is a rare disease | Yes | 
| E.2 Objective of the trial | 
| E.2.1 | Main objective of the trial | 
| Difference in proportion of patients with CR at 12 months (normalization of ALT, AST and IgG) between the TAC and MMF treatment group. |  | 
| E.2.2 | Secondary objectives of the trial | 
| Safety and Tolerability: Number and severity of side effects; Rate of stopping treatment due to side effects; serum creatinin & potassium; Blood pressure; Blood glucose levels and incidence of new onset diabetes; (opportunistic) infections; tremor; diarrhea Proportion of patients with complete biochemical remission at 6 months
 Proportion of patients with partial response, (decrease of AST and ALT, but no normalization)
 Proportion of patients with insufficient treatment response, defined as less than 25% reduction in ALT after 6 and 12 months treatment
 Dose reduction and cessation rate of prednisone
 Change of AST, ALT and IgG at 6 and 12 months vs baseline and between groups at the same time points
 Liver function: Total bilirubin, albumin, INR and MELD-score after 6 and 12 months between groups
 Fibrosis: Liver stiffness as measured by elastography and blood fibrosis markers (ELF)
 Quality of life: using the validated liver disease symptom index and EQ5D
 Cost-effectiveness
 |  | 
| E.2.3 | Trial contains a sub-study | No | 
| E.3 | Principal inclusion criteria | 
| •	Patient is older than 18 years old •	Probable or definite auto immune hepatitis according to the original or simplified IAIHG criteria (>10 points pre-treatment on the original criteria or >6 points on the simplified criteria)(2, 3)
 •	Incomplete responder on at least a half year of first-line treatment, with at least last 6 months azathioprine / 6-MP) / 6-TG and prednisolone or budesonide, and ALT 1.5 – 10x ULN for at least 2 months
 •	Patient is capable of understanding the purpose and risks of the study, has been fully informed and has given written informed consent to participate in the study
 
 |  | 
| E.4 | Principal exclusion criteria | 
| •	Presence of decompensated liver disease, defined as ascites, coagulopathy (INR >1.5), encephalopathy, variceal bleed, hepatopulmonal syndrome, hepatorenal syndrome or HCC in the past 6 months •	Signs of other liver diseases as NAFLD, Wilson disease, hemochromatosis,  alcoholic liver disease or  hepatitis B/C/D
 •	Clinical diagnosis of overlap / variant syndrome with PBC or PSC
 •	Liver transplantation in the medical history or currently on the waiting list for liver transplantation
 •	Incompliance with therapy during the last 12 months
 •	Active infections during inclusion including latent tuberculosis and HIV co-infection
 •	Allergic or hypersensitive to tacrolimus or MMF
 •	An estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of <60 mL/min
 •	Pregnancy or intention to become pregnant in the next 12 months
 •	Use of TAC or MMF in the past 6 months
 •	Intolerance to AZA
 
 |  | 
| E.5 End points | 
| E.5.1 | Primary end point(s) | 
| Difference in proportion of patients with CR at 12 months (normalization of ALT, AST and IgG) between the TAC and MMF treatment group. |  | 
| E.5.1.1 | Timepoint(s) of evaluation of this end point | 
| 52 weeks (i.e. 12 months) |  | 
| E.5.2 | Secondary end point(s) | 
| Safety and Tolerability: Number and severity of side effects; Rate of stopping treatment due to side effects; serum creatinin & potassium; Blood pressure; Blood glucose levels and incidence of new onset diabetes; (opportunistic) infections; tremor; diarrhea Proportion of patients with complete biochemical remission at 6 months
 Proportion of patients with partial response, (decrease of AST and ALT, but no normalization)
 Proportion of patients with insufficient treatment response, defined as less than 25% reduction in ALT after 6 and 12 months treatment
 Dose reduction and cessation rate of prednisone
 Change of AST, ALT and IgG at 6 and 12 months vs baseline and between groups at the same time points
 Liver function: Total bilirubin, albumin, INR and MELD-score after 6 and 12 months between groups
 Fibrosis: Liver stiffness as measured by elastography and blood fibrosis markers (ELF)
 Quality of life: using the validated liver disease symptom index and EQ5D
 Cost-effectiveness
 |  | 
| E.5.2.1 | Timepoint(s) of evaluation of this end point | 
| Patients will be seen at screening, week 0, week 2, week 12, week 24, week 36 and week 52 |  | 
| E.6 and E.7 Scope of the trial | 
| E.6 | Scope of the trial | 
| E.6.1 | Diagnosis | No | 
| E.6.2 | Prophylaxis | No | 
| E.6.3 | Therapy | Yes | 
| E.6.4 | Safety | Yes | 
| E.6.5 | Efficacy | Yes | 
| E.6.6 | Pharmacokinetic | No | 
| E.6.7 | Pharmacodynamic | No | 
| E.6.8 | Bioequivalence | No | 
| E.6.9 | Dose response | No | 
| E.6.10 | Pharmacogenetic | No | 
| E.6.11 | Pharmacogenomic | No | 
| E.6.12 | Pharmacoeconomic | No | 
| E.6.13 | Others | No | 
| E.7 | Trial type and phase | 
| E.7.1 | Human pharmacology (Phase I) | No | 
| E.7.1.1 | First administration to humans | No | 
| E.7.1.2 | Bioequivalence study | No | 
| E.7.1.3 | Other | No | 
| E.7.1.3.1 | Other trial type description |  | 
| E.7.2 | Therapeutic exploratory (Phase II) | No | 
| E.7.3 | Therapeutic confirmatory (Phase III) | No | 
| E.7.4 | Therapeutic use (Phase IV) | Yes | 
| E.8 Design of the trial | 
| E.8.1 | Controlled | Yes | 
| E.8.1.1 | Randomised | Yes | 
| E.8.1.2 | Open | Yes | 
| E.8.1.3 | Single blind | No | 
| E.8.1.4 | Double blind | No | 
| E.8.1.5 | Parallel group | No | 
| E.8.1.6 | Cross over | No | 
| E.8.1.7 | Other | No | 
| E.8.2 | Comparator of controlled trial | 
| E.8.2.1 | Other medicinal product(s) | Yes | 
| E.8.2.2 | Placebo | No | 
| E.8.2.3 | Other | No | 
| E.8.2.4 | Number of treatment arms in the trial | 2 | 
| E.8.3 | The trial involves single site in the Member State concerned | Yes | 
| E.8.4 | The trial involves multiple sites in the Member State concerned | Yes | 
| E.8.4.1 | Number of sites anticipated in Member State concerned | 8 | 
| E.8.5 | The trial involves multiple Member States | No | 
| E.8.6 Trial involving sites outside the EEA | 
| E.8.6.1 | Trial being conducted both within and outside the EEA | No | 
| E.8.6.2 | Trial being conducted completely outside of the EEA | No | 
| E.8.7 | Trial has a data monitoring committee | Yes | 
| E.8.8 | Definition of the end of the trial and justification where it is not the last
                        visit of the last subject undergoing the trial | 
| The trials end when all patients have had their last study visit. |  | 
| E.8.9 Initial estimate of the duration of the trial | 
| E.8.9.1 | In the Member State concerned years |  | 
| E.8.9.1 | In the Member State concerned months |  | 
| E.8.9.1 | In the Member State concerned days |  |