Positive Ph III data for AstraZeneca’s lesinurad in gout patients

Anglo-Swedish pharma major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) has presented positive top-line results of two pivotal Phase III trials investigating the potential of lesinurad, a selective uric acid re-absorption inhibitor (SURI), when used in combination with xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibitor allopurinol.

The results show that around twice as many patients met the primary endpoint with a statistically significant higher proportion of patients reaching the target sUA goal of <6.0 mg/dL at month six, compared to those treated with allopurinol alone. The data was presented as a late-breaking presentation at the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 2014 Annual Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts. Lesinurad is an investigational agent that inhibits the uric acid transporter URAT1 in the kidney, increasing uric acid excretion and thereby lowering sUA.

The two replicate Phase III studies, CLEAR1 and CLEAR2, evaluated lesinurad (200mg or 400mg oral) in combination with allopurinol in symptomatic gout patients not achieving target sUA levels on their current allopurinol dose.