Slowing the Progression of Rare Polycystic Kidney Disease with Dr. Allen Davidoff XORTX Therapeutics
Feb 23, 2023
Dr. Allen Davidoff is the Founder and CEO of XORTX Therapeutics, testing the benefit of a therapeutic for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, a rare progressive kidney disease with a clear genetic connection. Evidence suggests that lowering the activity of the xanthine oxidase enzyme in the kidney and lowering uric acid production via this enzyme is critical to developing a therapy that can benefit these patients.
Allen explains, "In terms of real therapies that slow the progression of kidney disease, there are very few. And so, to take the example of the rare disease, autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, one drug is currently approved. It was approved in 2018, that's a drug called tolvaptan, but it's only really used in about 5% of individuals. So that leaves this rare disease population largely underserved despite the fact that there's an approved drug."
"The drug that we're developing is oxypurinol. It is a xanthine oxidase inhibitor that has been studied extensively over a number of years. It is arguably the single best-tolerated xanthine oxidase inhibitor that's never been to market. We've started with that drug and reformulated it in a proprietary way to deliver it so that it will reach circulating blood concentrations that can inhibit the xanthine oxidase enzyme by 90% or more."
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