FILE PHOTO: The company logo for pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is displayed on a screen on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
(Reuters) – AstraZeneca Plc said on Tuesday its diabetes treatment Farxiga met the main goal in a late-stage trial testing the drug’s effectiveness in treating patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).
The treatment showed statistically significant improvement in worsening renal function or risk of death in CKD patients when compared to placebo, the company said.
Farxiga, among AstraZeneca’s top five drugs by sales, was first developed as a diabetes drug as it causes the kidneys to expel blood sugar from the body through urine, but it has shown promise as a heart failure treatment, even among non-diabetic patients.
CKD is a serious, progressive condition defined by decreased kidney function and affects nearly 700 million people worldwide.
The trial also met all of its secondary goals in CKD patients with and without type-2 diabetes, AstraZeneca said.
Reporting by Aakash Jagadeesh Babu in Bengaluru: Editing by Bernard Orr