What is the treatment being tested?

Vicadrostat (BI 690517) is a recently-developed drug which acts to block an enzyme (a hormone-making protein) in your body called aldosterone synthase. Aldosterone synthase produces aldosterone, a hormone that is elevated in people with CKD, increases blood pressure and we believe may also increase the risk of worsening kidney disease. It can also damage the heart. By reducing the body’s aldosterone levels, there may be a benefit to both your heart and kidneys over the long term.

Vicadrostat (BI 690517) has not yet been approved as a treatment for any disease and therefore its use in this clinical trial is considered experimental. It has previously been tested in clinical trials with healthy volunteers and in a small number of patients with kidney disease to determine the most appropriate dose to use in large trials like EASi-KIDNEY^TM.

In EASi-KIDNEY^TM, vicadrostat (BI 690517) will be tested in combination with empagliflozin, an SGLT2 inhibitor which has already been proven effective and safe in patients with CKD in the EMPA-KIDNEY^TM trial, a previous trial conducted by Oxford Population Health and a committee of international experts (www.empakidney.org). Empagliflozin causes blood sugar (equivalent to 10 teaspoons a day) and salt to pass into the urine. This slows the worsening of kidney disease and also results in a modest fall in body weight and blood pressure.