Lorundrostat’s Phase 2 performance already gave Mineralys a clear signal: in the Explore-CKD trial, the drug cut systolic blood pressure by 7.5 mmHg versus placebo in patients with chronic kidney disease and albuminuria, a population where blood pressure control is notoriously difficult to achieve. Now the company is bringing Phase 3 data from the Launch-HTN trial to ASN Kidney Week 2026, and the audience will include the nephrologists who actually manage these patients day to day.
Launch-HTN enrolled adults with uncontrolled hypertension who were already taking two to five antihypertensive medications, spanning 159 sites across 13 countries between November 2023 and January 2025. That design puts lorundrostat squarely in treatment-resistant territory, the patients most likely to carry a CKD diagnosis alongside their hypertension. What the ASN presentation will show is whether the aldosterone synthase inhibitor’s Phase 2 signal holds at scale in a population this hard to treat.
The backdrop matters for interpreting whatever data Mineralys presents. Aldosterone-driven hypertension in CKD has options, but none are fully satisfying. Older mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists like spironolactone carry meaningful risks of hyperkalemia in patients with reduced kidney function, which limits their use in the patients who arguably need them most. Finerenone, the FDA-approved MRA indicated for CKD associated with type 2 diabetes, works upstream of aldosterone’s receptor but does not block the hormone’s synthesis. Lorundrostat targets aldosterone synthase directly, a mechanistically distinct approach that in theory reduces aldosterone production rather than blocking where it lands.
The nephrologist audience at ASN will scrutinize the safety profile as closely as the blood pressure numbers, particularly potassium changes and any renal function signals across the CKD subgroup. If the Launch-HTN data show durable blood pressure reduction without the hyperkalemia rates that have historically constrained MRA use in CKD, that subgroup readout becomes the number worth tracking when the full presentation goes up.
Jon Napitupulu is Director of Media Relations at The Clinical Trial Vanguard. Jon, a computer data scientist, focuses on the latest clinical trial industry news and trends.
