AstraZeneca drug lowers high blood pressure in late-stage study; shares rise

By Pushkala Aripaka and Maggie Fick

LONDON (Reuters) -AstraZeneca said on Monday its experimental drug baxdrostat significantly lowered blood pressure in a late-stage trial of patients with treatment-resistant hypertension.

The news sent shares of the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker up by almost 2%.

The company said it expects peak annual sales for the drug to exceed $5 billion, driven by its use as a standalone therapy and in combination with Farxiga, its blockbuster treatment - one that generates $1 billion or more in annual sales - for type 2 diabetes, heart failure and chronic kidney disease.

Baxdrostat met the main and secondary goals of the study, showing a statistically significant and clinically meaningful reduction in systolic blood pressure at 12 weeks when added to standard treatment at two doses, and compared with placebo, AstraZeneca said.

It acquired baxdrostat through its 2023 purchase of CinCor Pharma as part of efforts to expand its pipeline in heart and kidney disease.

The drug targets aldosterone, a hormone that raises blood pressure, offering a new approach distinct from older treatments like ACE inhibitors that do not address hormonal drivers, AstraZeneca says. High blood pressure affects more than 1 billion people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

AstraZeneca is testing baxdrostat in four indications, including chronic kidney disease and prevention of heart failure, in a clinical programme involving more than 20,000 patients.

Shares in London's biggest listed company by market value were up 1.9% at 0834 GMT and among the top gainers on the FTSE 100 index in early trading.

Mineralys Therapeutics is developing a similar drug, lorundrostat, and expects to submit data to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by the end of the year.

AstraZeneca said it will present full trial results at a medical conference in August but did not say when it will seek U.S. approval.

Its shares are flat this year to date though they have outperformed Europe's benchmark healthcare index by about 5.5%, Barclays analysts said in a note on Monday.

(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru and Maggie Fick in London, additional reporting by Raechel Thankam Job and Unnamalai L in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman, Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Susan Fenton)