EULAR: AstraZeneca’s lesinurad and febuxostat combo shows promise in tophaceous gout

Anglo-Swedish pharma major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) presented positive results of its Phase III double-blind, multicenter, placebo-controlled trial CRYSTAL, investigating the potential of lesinurad, a selective uric acid re-absorption inhibitor (SURI), when used in combination with the xanthine oxidase inhibitor (XOI) febuxostat, at the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress (EULAR 2015) in Rome on Saturday.

The results demonstrated that lesinurad in combination with febuxostat lowered serum uric acid (sUA) levels and reduced tophus area to a greater extent than febuxostat alone.Lesinurad is an investigational agent that inhibits the uric acid transporter URAT1 in the kidney, increasing uric acid excretion and thereby lowering sUA. Lesinurad works in combination with febuxostat to provide a dual mechanism of action which increases excretion and decreases production of uric acid. Febuxostat was first approved in 2009 but has not been proved effective in all patients.

Earlier this year, the European Medicines Agency accepted the marketing authorization application for lesinurad. The drug came to AstraZeneca as part of its $1.26 billion acquisition of California-based Ardea Sciences in 2012. Bernstein analyst Tim Anderson has projected potential 2020 sales for the drug at $582 million.