Outsize benefit seen in trial of drug for kidney disease

In a clinical trial of patients with chronic kidney disease, an experimental drug significantly reduced albuminuria-albumin in urine, a sign of kidney damage-for 50% of participants. When the experimental drug was paired with a standard-care medication, 70% of participants reportedly experienced a significant reduction in albuminuria.

The findings are published today in The Lancet. The paper’s lead author is Dr. Katherine Tuttle, a clinical professor of nephrology at the University of Washington School of Medicine and executive director for research at Providence Inland Northwest Health in Spokane.

The drug candidate, BI 690517, is designed to inhibit the body’s production of aldosterone, a hormone that balances sodium and potassium levels to help regulate blood pressure. Too much aldosterone, however, speeds kidney disease’s progression.

In the study, BI 690517 also was associated with higher rates of hyperkalemia, compared with placebo, but most cases did not require medical intervention, the researchers wrote. In observing empagliflozin’s apparent ameliorating effects on hyperkalemia, they noted that “the magnitude of potassium reduction by empagliflozin is in line with recently reported meta-analyses including nearly 50,000 participants.”

The finding will inform a Phase 3 clinical trial, led by Oxford Population Health in England, to test the drug candidate with 11,000 patient-participants worldwide, Tuttle said.

Reference: Outsize benefit seen in trial of drug for kidney disease; The Lancet, DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(23)02408-X