Blood pressure drug succeeds in mid-stage trial

Roche and partner Alnylam said on Tuesday their experimental drug against high blood pressure was shown to work when used in combination with the standard of care in a phase 2 trial.

Full results of the Phase 2 KARDIA-2 trial, testing the twice-a-year injection zilebesiran, would be presented at the American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Session in Atlanta on April 6, Roche said in a statement on Tuesday.

In July last year, Roche agreed to develop and commercialise Alnylam’s zilebesiran to treat hypertension, the leading cause of cardiovascular disease worldwide.

Roche at the time paid Alnylam $310 million upfront, with milestone payments lifting the potential deal value to up to $2.8 billion in a large bet that it can address demand beyond existing cheap generic blood pressure drugs.