A new drug lowered blood pressure and improved kidney health markers in high-risk patients.
Preliminary research suggests that adding the new medication baxdrostat to standard treatment may help lower blood pressure and slow the progression of kidney disease in individuals with chronic kidney disease who also have uncontrolled hypertension.
The findings were presented at the American Heart Association’s Hypertension Scientific Sessions 2025.
The study was also recently published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
Chronic kidney disease and high blood pressure are strongly interconnected, and when either condition is poorly managed, they can result in severe complications including heart attack, stroke, heart failure and progression to kidney failure.
One of the key factors in this relationship is aldosterone, a hormone produced by the adrenal glands.
Aldosterone promotes sodium retention, which increases water retention and raises blood pressure. Persistently high levels of this hormone can cause blood vessels to become thickened and less flexible, leading to damage in the heart and scarring in the kidneys.
This makes aldosterone an important player in both high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease.
“High blood pressure can worsen kidney function and declining kidney function can further elevate blood pressure, and these outcomes can be life-altering for patients.”
Trial design and participant profile
The purpose of the study was to evaluate whether adding baxdrostat to standard therapy is both safe and effective for lowering blood pressure in individuals who have chronic kidney disease (advanced enough that they are expected to develop kidney failure or eventually need a transplant) and uncontrolled hypertension.
These patients continued to have high blood pressure even while taking either an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or an angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB), two common treatments that target a group of hormones involved in blood pressure regulation.
