Mineralys Therapeutics, a small drug developer, said Monday that its experimental drug, lorundrostat, significantly reduced blood pressure in two different studies, giving the medicine a path to market.
Shares in the drugmaker soared 33% to $14 in pre-market trading.
Lorundrostat represents a new spin on an old approach: blocking the hormone aldosterone, which helps regulate blood pressure, fluid, and electrolyte balance. Spironolactone, the original aldosterone inhibitor, was approved in 1960 and has been shown to reduce deaths in heart failure patients. But spironolactone’s use is limited: It can cause worrisome high potassium levels, and also unpleasant side effects including breast growth in men, because the drug can also block the effects of testosterone.
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